By The Editorial Board
There are many benefits to having an on-campus job, such as flexibility, convenience and building your résumé. However, the pay rate is not one of those benefits.
Undergraduate, graduate and international students all have the opportunity to work on campus, which is why Baylor places an average of 4,000 students in student worker jobs every year. Of course, the process of becoming a student worker can vary depending on what type of student you are.
For undergraduate students, all that is required to become a student worker is that you are currently enrolled and are in good academic standing. On-campus employment jobs are part-time jobs equal to or less than 20 hours per week that are located on Baylor’s campus. These may be funded through Federal Work-Study, Texas College or University Work-Study dollars. Community Service Federal Work-Study Program jobs are for students who have Federal Work-Study eligibility. These are organizations where the university provides a sponsorship through Federal Work-Study dollars for students to gain work experience.
For graduate students, there is the opportunity to have a graduate assistant job, and jobs not tied to academic programs are considered internships for graduate degree level students (Graduate Student Employee Biweekly). These positions are project-based and related to the student’s major or field of interest. Assistantships, fellowships or other similarly related positions are categorized as students with work related to their degree program and are managed through the graduate school. Graduate assistants do not receive the same benefits as teaching assistants or research assistants and are similar to an on-campus undergraduate job with the exception they perform higher levels of work.
As for international students, the main requirement they must fulfill is having work authorization to work in the U.S. before applying to work for the university.
What do all these types of student workers have in common? They are all underpaid.
Student workers at Baylor are typically paid minimum wage, but some positions offer competitive pay, and the pay for specific positions can vary depending on the department and the role. For some positions, like those in the Campus Recreation department, workers can earn $13 per hour. Part-time teaching assistants can earn $18.75 per hour. Those last two are more doable for students, but the number of positions with pay like these are few and far between on Baylor’s student job board.
The argument could be made that since Texas’ minimum wage is $7.25 per hour — which is the same as the federal minimum wage which was set in 2009 — Baylor is paying its student employees a reasonable amount. Except we’re no longer in 2009. It’s 2025, meaning Baylor students are dealing with over a decade-long inflation rise. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 2.48% per year between 2009 and now, producing a cumulative price increase of 48.07%. This means today’s prices are 1.48 times as high as average prices since 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index.
We haven’t even discussed the cost of living in Waco for students. It is unfortunately accepted among students that housing has become outrageous and unaffordable for those who are working minimum wage jobs as full-time students. The average monthly rent for a single-bedroom apartment in Waco is $1,035. If someone is getting paid minimum wage, 20 hours a week, for one month, they are making roughly $580 at the end of the month. That’s not even including other expenses. Yikes.
Another argument could be made that the university could just raise the amount of hours a student worker is allowed to work in a week. Unfortunately, federal law requires that a student’s total work hours for all on-campus jobs cannot exceed 20 during the school term. However, a student may work full-time during periods when school is not in session or during the student’s annual break. So there is not much Baylor can do unless federal law changes.
But what Baylor can do without federal regulation getting in the way is determine the student wages that it gives out. Whether it’s through one of the many fundraising events the university does throughout the year or through donors, Baylor needs to allocate more money to its student workers if it really wants its students to be successful.
