Truman State University chose to opt in to the new Missouri state minimum wage of $8.60 per hour.
Dave Rector, vice president for administration, finance and planning, said Truman was exempt from the wage increase, but University President Sue Thomas ultimately made the decision to opt in anyway. He said it was unfair to student workers to stay exempt, and Truman wanted to remain a competitive employer, so Thomas decided to adopt the new minimum wage.
Rector said passing the ballot measure in the middle of the fiscal year came as a surprise to the University, but he also said Truman can better plan for this larger expense in the budget in the coming year.
“Overall, next year we will probably have to find about $200,000 [in the budget] to keep even with it,” Rector said.
He said he foresees some areas of campus that hire student workers having to cut back on hours and jobs. The University has already lowered the number of scholarship hours from 60 to 58 for the spring semester as a result of the higher minimum wage.