BY ALICIA FEYERHERM
Over 800 Fort Hays State University student workers recently received a significant wage increase. At the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, student workers began making $10 an hour – up $1.75 from the $8.25 an hour workers were making before the raise.
Vice President for Administration and Finance Wesley Wintch said this raise has been in the works for a while. A report from the Docking Institute in early 2022 showed students could earn higher wages at many other jobs in Hays.
“Student employees do a lot of good work and a lot of needed work on campus,” Wintch said. “We realized we needed to do something so that we could be competitive.”
This realization led to the formation of a committee. The committee looked at what it would cost to increase wages to $9, $9.50 or $10 an hour and then presented the calculations to the budget committee.
Student wages are funded through a few different areas of the budget. The majority of student wages are paid from General Use Dollars, which come from tuition and state funding. However, in some cases – such as students who work in Residential Life – those salaries come out of Residential Life’s revenue. Students on work-study are paid through work-study. All these areas were considered and consulted before the increase went into effect. Eventually, it was decided the budget could accommodate an increase to $10 an hour.
Wintch also pointed out that student workers are exempt from some of the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax that other jobs are required to take out.
“When you add back the employee taxes that you might have to get in town, your take-home pay is a lot closer to what $11 or $10.75 an hour would be,” Wintch said. “It’s actually a lot more competitive than people may think.”
Digital Curation Imaging Assistant at Forsyth Library, Soph Garrison, believes the wage increase is a step in the right direction.
“Student workers are the backbone of this university, and although we value the multitude of experiences and connections gained by our on-campus opportunities, we still have to worry about tuition payments, bills and utilities,” Garrison said.
Not only does this increase benefit current workers, but Wintch also sees long-term benefits from this increase.
“Data shows that students who work at college are more connected to the university and are more likely to become active alumni,” Wintch said. “It’s an investment for the future to keep our alumni pipeline strong.”