Students Speak Up About Wages

Posted By Phoebe Doscher on Mar 28, 2020 | 1 comment

Taylor Russo ’22 working as an office assistant in the Office of Multicultural Engagement (Photo Allyson Frantz/The Gettysburgian)

By Phoebe Doscher, News Editor

On a Saturday just before coronavirus upended life at Gettysburg College as we knew it, Adil Sarwar ‘22 scheduled the time to discuss his experience as a student worker during a break in his shift at the Office of Multicultural Engagement (OME). He works two other jobs on campus, striving to log 20 hours every week at the Pennsylvania minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. He returned to work after the interview, took a shift on Sunday, and began the week working again on Monday.

“I’m working 20 [hours] because $7.25 does not add up to a lot and it’s kind of expensive out here,” Sarwar, a Pakistan native, said. “It really burdens you up, especially if you want to get involved on campus. And for me, at least, I’m co-president for three clubs, I’m in APO, I work those three jobs and I’m taking five classes, so it gets a lot sometimes.”

This experience is not unusual for a student employee at Gettysburg College. Last fall, the low student wage issue gained momentum when a group of students circulated a petition to raise the minimum wage to $15, an effort spearheaded by Otis Pierce ’20. Pierce sought to raise wages when they noticed that students worked long hours to offset the low rate of pay at the Pennsylvania minimum wage, or slightly above it.

This past week, Assistant Vice President of College Life Darrien Davenport announced the college’s decision to compensate student employees for the remainder of their wages in the spring 2020 semester via a stipend. Some students may continue working remotely on a volunteer basis, if possible, while others must halt their work now that students are learning online for the rest of the semester. Despite the effort to compensate students for a semester of work, this does not solve the underlying issue of low wages, which lies at the heart of Pierce’s effort from last fall.

“Student workers need their jobs to survive, and what we are asking for as students is for the administration to give student workers a pathway to success, instead of burnout,” Pierce said.

After garnering over 70 signatures on the petition, many of the signers met and elected three student worker representatives, Pierce, Kylie Mandeville ‘21, and Logan Henley ’21, who brought their proposal to raise the minimum wage to President Bob Iuliano. The president’s response brought about no immediate effort to raise wages, but rather a charge to the Benefits Advisory Committee in late November to look into the feasibility of raising the minimum wage for students.

“There is no student representative on [BAC], and in my opinion it is unlikely that the experiences of student workers will be valued more than the monetary values they represent when the decision is to be made whether to raise the minimum wage,” Pierce said.

In the meantime, some student employees continue to experience mental and physical strain from working long hours to earn sufficient compensation. Like Sarwar, Taylor Russo ’22 works in the Office for Multicultural Engagement, and is a student employee for four on-campus jobs, working 28 hours a week, in addition to a biweekly remote position. She works to fund spending money, costs of immersion trips and other opportunities, and contribute to savings.

“I do find it very difficult to balance it all sometimes. I am a member of many clubs as well, which requires me to need to be flexible with them in case of my schedule, but I try to give my all to everything I am involved in. This does however affect the amount of time I have for myself, which is not much,” Russo said.

Long hours are not the only reason student employees face stress. Sarwar worries about making enough money to offset the price of tuition on top of balancing daily obligations at college. He must also work to allocate funds for health insurance and a meal plan at Gettysburg.

“I had to go down to 12 meals. If there was an option that I could go down to the 7, I would do that,” he said. “I’m taking out three loans for this. I think that’s why I’m so stressed, because I’m taking out that amount of money just to go here, just to be here.”

Another stressor arises for students whose low wages do not provide them with means to pay for non-essential expenses, like eating out with friends or going to the movies. Jalissa Ortega ‘23, a student worker at Servo, is among those who put their wages towards necessities, but lack spending money. She earns $8.50 an hour working around 15 hours every week at the expense of social experiences at college.

“Students that make $7.25 to $8.50 an hour do not have enough money to pay for necessities and still have spending money,” she said. “Students like myself constantly feel left out because we do not have the funds to allow us to spend money the way a college student should be able to while they are in school and trying new things and making new friends.”

Russo is similarly responsible for allocating the funds to eat out, pay for gas money, and take additional educational experiences. Her long work hours, although a substantial time commitment, make it possible for her to have a fuller experience.

“In order to do the things that make me happy and not say no to opportunities or experiences, I need to make enough money. I also want to be proactive about my loans and my savings while I can, so I take every opportunity that I can to do so,” she said.

Students like Russo may choose to take an additional or alternate job off-campus at a potentially higher rate of pay. Russo earns the same amount biweekly in her remote position as she does working four jobs on campus. She feels that the low pay may require students to work elsewhere.

“I do believe it is necessary to start [raising wages] as soon as possible before students lose motivation to continue working for the college. In talking with many student workers, I do find that the low minimum wage tends to make them feel less appreciated, as if their work is valued less because of the pay wage,” Russo said. 

Many student workers work long hours in jobs that help maintain various facets of the college. Ortega’s job in the dining center entails keeping the deli station stocked. She also offers to help other workers with more stationary jobs and cleans up. While Gettysburg employs staff members, Ortega finds that student workers are also vital to campus life, but they may not be willing to continue working for low wages.

“If the dining hall lost student workers food would be served slower, tables wouldn’t be cleaned as fast and there would need to be more full time staff who get paid more,” Ortega said. “We have so many student workers on campus: tutors, PLAs, tour guides and many more; if we don’t treat our student workers right we could lose them.”

Regardless of students’ positions on campus, some have these jobs out of financial necessity. Sarwar, for instance, has three siblings that have yet to go through schooling and will eventually need financial compensation for their education. He works at OME, the Organization & Management Studies department front desk, and for the Office of Annual Giving to pay for tuition, providing himself and his family with more financial stability.

“Right now, I need to save all of it up, send it to my financial aid. I don’t really get good financial aid as a transfer student. My dad has three more kids to support. It’s not cheap back home,” Sarwar said.

At Sarwar’s previous job, separate from Gettysburg, he earned $12 an hour. He considers this rate, almost double the amount he’s making right now, to be adequate pay in order to supplement the cost of tuition and other expenses.

“I am not the only student working multiple jobs and everyone’s situation is different, however I know that it is very hard to work for the college and only maintain one job if a student is financially accountable for themselves,” Russo said. “I hope that students who are not necessarily responsible for costs on their own can join the movement to raising student wages, because it can help everyone.”