A pay bump is on the way for student employees at Ferris due to a Michigan-mandated minimum wage increase.
Ferris’ four pay levels for student employees have all been increased by 35 cents for the Dec. 20 pay period. Minimum wage student employees, for example, will have their hourly pay increased from $8.15 to $8.50.
This is the second of four pay increases that will eventually increase minimum wage on campus to $9.25 by Jan. 1, 2018.
Student employment and financial aid advisor John Randle said the increase in pay focuses on treating students as fairly as possible.
“The 35 cent increase is going to every student employee, across the board,” Randle said. “We are taking all student employees into consideration. We want this to be fair to everyone.”
Ferris dental hygiene major Aubrey Taylor is a Level 1 student employee in the Dean’s office in the College of Engineering Technology and says the new pay increase will be beneficial.
“Working on campus gives me an opportunity to be more flexible if I have to study or if I have to attend an event for my program,” Taylor said. “There are some weeks where I can’t work as much as other weeks and that does put a financial burden on me.
School comes first and campus jobs understand that, but with the new raise I’m going to be able to miss a couple hours here and there for school and not have such a financial burden.”
Randle said the new pay increases will not impact the amount of hours the student employees are assigned to work.
“Departments knew that there would be an increase in student pay raise,” Randle said. “We will be making sure they do not decrease student hours as a result.”
Michigan’s $8.50 minimum wage goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2016. The wage will increase to $8.90 in 2017 and $9.25 in 2018.