In my opinion (of a Midwest USA programmer with no sense of the market rates/conditions or customs in your area) you are not underpaid. Your employer sees you like an intern.
People who frequent this site will say you are underpaid because they don't place much additional value in experience/education and forget that most people can rent a full house for less than half the price of a bad studio apartment in Silicon Valley.
Could you negotiate to be paid more? Yes. Will your pay at a salaried job after you graduate be totally unrelated to what you're paid now? Yes.
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In my opinion (of a Midwest USA programmer with no sense of the market rates/conditions or customs in your area) you are not underpaid. Your employer sees you like an intern.
People who frequent this site will say you are underpaid because they don't place much additional value in experience/education and forget that most people can rent a full house for less than half the price of a bad studio apartment in Silicon Valley.
Could you negotiate to be paid more? Yes. Will your pay at a salaried job after you graduate be totally unrelated to what you're paid now? Yes.
I went to school at a Canadian university with a coop program. Engineering coop interns were regularly paid upwards of 20$/h.
But yeah, as with all remuneration, it's always very dependent on your area.
Was it Waterloo? If so, I have a few questions I'd like to ask if you don't mind
The company I work in Silicon Valley for pays our software engineering interns $5000/month (USD).
Yes, but you'll pay a third of that for short term housing.