Astha Dave, Special to The Denisonian —

Denison University has introduced a new tiered wage system for its student employees, a change that has sparked a range of reactions among the student body. 

Under the Student Tiered-Wage Program, students can now earn wages based on a four-tier system, with pay rates ranging from $12.30 to $14.55 an hour.

This represents a shift from Denison’s previous system, where all student employees earned a flat rate of $12.30 per hour. The baseline wage is still nearly $2 above Ohio’s state minimum wage of $10.45.

The new system provides students with the opportunity to advance and grow their wages as they take on more responsibility. The university also increased the number of hours domestic students are allowed to work, from 300 hours per year to 20 hours per week. 

The system assigns wages to each position according to the skills, knowledge, and experience needed for that position. 

“Tier four includes positions that supervise others, particularly roles requiring leadership or advanced expertise, such as head lifeguards,” The Office of Human Resources said. “While the majority of student positions fall in tiers one and two, we don’t have significant concern about imbalance, as higher-tier jobs require specific skills and qualifications that not all students possess.” 

Franklin Bray ‘25 works both as an ARC Tutor and for the football team, and was affected by the recent changes.

“As an ARC Tutor, I like it because I get a higher pay,” Bray said. “But for the football team, I’m tier one and I feel like we do a lot more work that’s not recognized by that. I mean, we get more hours that makes up for the fact that we don’t get paid as much. But I think it’s devaluing the work that a person is doing.” 

Some students are not sure if the tier-wage system is a good move. 

“I don’t think a dollar makes enough of a difference to make people fight for this job,” Ganith Herath ‘26 said. “Now nobody wants a tier one job if it’s not that much of a difference.” 

Mailroom workers are also affected by this new system. The mailroom is one of the largest student employers on campus and falls under tier one. Mailroom workers argue that their work requires physical labor, which is not adequately compensated. 

“The mailroom helps with the first-year move-in, and we are not paid extra for that,” Iz Stokes ’26 said, also noting that there is a physical labor aspect during the move-in.

Stokes, along with their co-workers, is forming a petition to advocate for higher wages in the mailroom, aiming to elevate their pay to tier two or three. 

“We’re hoping to finalize and get the petition out soon,” Stokes said, adding that their faculty manager supports the petition. “At the end of the day, I’m always going to love working in the mailroom, but it’s disappointing that we kind of get swept under the rug,” said Stokes. 

Nick Fencl ‘25, a student supervisor and professional staff member at Mitchell, shared a more positive view, pointing out that he believes the wage system reflects the responsibilities of each role. 

“The tier wage system, I think, is a really good idea because the associates don’t really do much but sit at the reception,” Fencl said. “The supervisor actually has more responsibilities, and it’s good that lifeguards are getting more money because it’s the hardest job on campus. If I was part of tier one, it would’ve [also] made me want to take on that responsibility to go up to the tiers to get more pay, so I think it’s a good system to make people want to do that.”