USU to pay employees more often?
Alicia A. Wiser, Staff Writer
Eventually, students employed by Utah State University may be paid twice a month, rather than once, as they currently are.
This is a proposal that has been discussed on more than one occasion in the USU Staters’ Council, a meeting of Associated Students of USU Executive Council members and the university president.
Although many student employees say they would like to have an advance in their payday distributions, others wonder if it would really even make a difference.
“It is all about how the students budget their money,” said Clint Moffitt, controller and vice president for Administrative Services. “Whether they are paid once a month or biweekly isn’t the real issue at hand. What it all comes down to is how well one budgets his or her money.”
Moffitt said, however, that students’ interests are being considered. If student employees would prefer being paid biweekly, then the administration will and is currently supporting the proposal.
If and when the change happens, it will take some time.
Converting to bi-weekly payments would require new software for a time-keeping system, which will cost roughly $300,000. To minimize the expense, the possible development of an in-house system has been considered, which would largely require the cooperation of the Employment department in staffing more people to collect time cards.
Currently, the Staters’ Council and the administration support the proposal but recognize there is not much more they can do until CIO/Dean of Information and Learning Resources Barbara White designates where financial priorities lie to determine whether money would be better spent in investing in a new time-keeping system, or if it would be more beneficial if dispersed elsewhere.
“We are doing all we can at this point and hope to have the changes in place within the next five years,” said Bradley Bishop, ASUSU student advocate. “We just have to give it some time.”