The Cost of Ignoring the Cost of Living

The Hubris of HigherEd Employer Culture

Previous to the election of Donald Trump, the Obama/Biden Administration moved forward with an effort to increase the salary threshold for overtime-exempt workers to $47,476. Double the minimum at the time. This decision rocked Higher Education, causing a backlash from CUPA-HR and other associations indicating that among other challenges, institutions were going to be incapable of meeting these thresholds under the mandated timeline. It would cause a massive increase in tuition and further hamstring campuses that were already having a difficult time meeting financial challenges. 

Several areas were most impacted by these proposed changes: Athletics, Admissions and Residence Life. At the time, two of these areas reported directly to me as a VPSA. Conversations happened with my direct reports, the Director of Human Resources, General Counsel, Chief Financial Officer, and my colleagues as to how we were going to make this change a reality. Would we move salaries up to meet the threshold or would we be seeking to meet the requirements by having staff ‘clock in and out’ during their ‘work hours’? Conversations about how this would impact those who served in an on-call capacity or how athletic coaches who got a text message from a recruit or a player in the ‘off hours’ would be compensated for their time became dizzying. Then there was the impact of salary equity across the institution and how if we moved one department’s compensation up, where would that leave us with others?

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