The intent of my comment wasn't to make out snobbery doesn't exist (or isn't rampant - it is & I've experienced plenty of snobbery from academics myself). Just that there are additional factors.

> At UC, research assistants typically make more than Grad Students or post-docs

That's cool but I didn't say every university; I don't think one counterexample makes my comment "[not] true in the slightest".