At the beginning of October, our campus that limits hourly student employees to a maximum of 25 hours per week (or 50 hours per bi-weekly pay period) during the academic year. Since that time, our offices have received many questions from students and the campus departments that employ these students. Below, please see some frequently asked questions and our answers. We hope this will provide a better understanding to students, faculty and staff on how this policy works and why it was enacted. Please see the .
Why are you limiting the number of hours that students can work for on-campus departments? Is it related to student success or potential impacts from the Affordable Care Act?
It’s both. For several decades, CU-Boulder has limited this work to 20 hours per week for graduate students. This has been in place to help ensure that students’ No. 1 priority is their academic success – and not on working close to full-time hours. In hindsight, we should have had a similar provision for undergraduate students, as many of our peer and Pac-12 universities do. A review of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) gave us the opportunity to consider this policy with respect to the campus goal of achieving greater academic success as it relates to a student’s persistence and ultimately their graduation.
Furthermore, on Jan. 1, 2015, the Employer Shared Responsibility provisions of the Affordable Care Act take effect. Due to the variability in hours that students work, it’s difficult to gauge exactly how many student employees would end up being eligible for health insurance under ACA and/or the potential costs to fund this expense. But it could be anywhere from zero (if no students opted for this health coverage) to well over $1 million per year. That’s not an expense we’re prepared to absorb and we don’t want to raise tuition to meet that obligation.
Why can’t exceptions be made for students who can manage their work schedules and still succeed academically?
Unfortunately, we can’t do that. We appreciate that a select number of high-achieving students can balance a nearly full-time workload and full-time class schedule. But have shown that such a workload is detrimental to academic performance. With that said, studies show that part-time employment and the associated time management skills can improve academic performance. We’re supportive of that. But working more than 25 hours per week can decrease one’s GPA and lower the quality of one’s academic experience. We want to see students succeed, and it’s very important that the .
Can you be flexible if students exceed 50 hours some time but also are under 50 hours other times?
That becomes quite difficult to manage, especially if students work for multiple campus departments. We know that the majority of our students do not enroll in the summer session. This is often a key time for our students to work full-time and save for expenses in the upcoming year. We want that to continue. Our policy allows students to work 40 hours per week in the summer and 25 hours per week during the academic year – a combination that allows students to make substantial academic progress and earn substantial support for their education without the university having an obligation to offer health insurance.
Since all students are required to have health insurance, why would the university have to pay for “new” health insurance under ACA?
The Affordable Care Act contains two types of mandates: an individual mandate and an employer mandate. The – through the Wardenburg Health Center, their parents’ health insurance policies or other means – satisfies the individual mandate.Ěý It does not, however, relieve the university, as an employer, from having to offer health insurance to eligible employees. Thus, student-employees would have to be offered the same health care packages as our full-time employees. Additionally, any eligible student-employee who is offered employer-provided health insurance but does not respond to the offer must automatically be enrolled in the employer-provided health insurance plan.
How do other peer universities in the Pac-12 handle this?
We’re certainly not alone in limiting student-employee work hours for campus jobs. Arizona, Arizona State and Oregon all have 25-hour/week limits on student employment during the academic year – just like CU-Boulder. Some other Pac-12 schools – Oregon State, Washington and Washington State – are more restrictive and cap hours at 19.5 to 20 hours per week.
Without working more than 25 hours per week, I won’t be able to afford to attend CU-Boulder anymore. What can the university do to help me?
For those students experiencing true financial hardship as a result of the policy, the Financial Aid Office is available to assist, beginning with a review of the student’s budget and financial aid status to see if there are additional financial aid options available to assist the student in covering his or her educational costs during this transition period. For more details, please contact the Student Employment Office at , stdemp@colorado.edu, 303-492-7349 or at Regent Administrative Center, Room 205.Ěý
Why was this policy launched so close to the beginning of the year without providing advance notice to students?
We regret that we did not provide more advance notice. And to the extent that this has caused confusion and hardship for students, we apologize. The campus has been working on the policy since late spring. We had hoped for an earlier effective date, but it took time to work out the details of both the policy and the process. We are asking departments to make a good-faith effort to comply with the policy knowing that it will take some period of time for departments to change staffing models and hire and train new students.
The policy allows for business case exceptions for employers. We also know that this has an impact on a select group of students and we are asking them to also make a good-faith effort to comply within a reasonable period of time. We have sent a communication to students who have recently worked more than 50 hours in a pay period and offered to help them determine if other financial aid options are available to them.
Kelly Fox, Senior Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer
Russ Moore, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs