Like prospective students, current students are reconsidering their decision to come to Stanford. But I may be forced to drop out for purely financial reasons. Some Ph.D. students have written that they will leave their programs with a masters degree. I've put down that I am in a PhD program, but I am actually still deciding whether to leave after getting the MS, or whether to stay. Whether or not I am living on campus will probably influence the decision, unfortunately.
Many students feel betrayed by a university they see as profitting unfairly from their work.
The grad students are the work force that keeps the research machine running and they are not sharing in the fruit of Stanford's success. Every effort should be made to ensure that the graduate quality of life is as good as Stanford's reputation. In addition, students are spending more and more time away from research. Some are working outside jobs to make ends meet, while others are commuting long hours to work every day or moving every six months. Obviously this hurts their personal academic projects, but these distractions also affect the research productivity that keeps Stanford's grant rates and reputation high.