There are so many opportunities for students to work on campus at COD, and now those workers are getting an extra 25 cents an hour. 

The college began a Student Worker Premium Pay program this fall. This program is for students who have worked in a student employee position in the prior academic year for at least 10 hours during specified pay periods. 

Currently, there are about 300 student workers a year, and only about 15 meet the qualifications for the program. 

Anthony Guerrero, a student worker on campus shared his thoughts, saying that “Working on campus is a great opportunity, but the low wages can sometimes dissuade people from applying. If student worker pay rivaled that of other common jobs, then there would be more people willing to work on campus. Twenty-five cents isn’t going to make a huge difference, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

According to the manager of employment, Michelle Olson Rzeminski, “Human Resources and Student Financial Aid will track, identify and notify managers and students in each instance eligibility is met.” 

The goal of this program is to recognize the students hard work and contributions to the college. COD President Brian Caputo said many groups on campus came to the conclusion that this program is “necessary to encourage students to continue working on campus.”

This program will be in addition to the increase in minimum wage to $9.25 an hour coming in January 2020. This will give COD student workers an hourly wage of $9.50.