Resident assistants
on Appalachian State University’s campus would like to see
benefits that are more comparable to other University of North Carolina
system schools.
Other RAs at North Carolina universities receive benefits such as
free meal plans and single rooms at double occupancy rates.
“I love my job as an RA, but it is very stressful to deal with
certain situations as an RA when you have a roommate,” Lindsay
K. Lewis, a second-year RA in Newland Residence Hall, said.
“If a resident has a confidential situation they need to talk
to you about, your roommate has to leave the room. Also, if you
are on duty you may have a situation occur at 4 a.m. that will wake
your roommate up,” Lewis said. “It would be nice for an
RA to be able to have their own room, not just as a reward for being
an RA, but to be fair to the resident who would have to deal with
the pressure of living with an RA,” Lewis said.
At several other universities in the UNC system, an RA may have
their own room, and pay the same rate as they would if they had
a roommate. At Appalachian, students who would like their own room
must pay double occupancy.
RA pay, however, is lower at most other UNC schools than at Appalachian.
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro pays their RAs $3,000
in 10 monthly installments and allows the RAs a single room at the
double occupancy rate.
In addition, an RA may have the opportunity to earn up to $1,000
in stipend bonus for superior performance throughout the year.
The yearly pay for a first-year RA at Appalachian is $4,435 per
year, increasing to $5,402 per year for a third-year RA.
“The pay is great, but the benefits are horrible. The only
benefit we had was the ability to park near the dorm in which you
work,” former two-year RA Amber Southerland said. “I feel
that the university would get a greater quality of RA applicants
if there were more competitive benefits such as a private room and
a meal plan.”
However, some Appalachian RAs still feel the pay and opportunity
definitely outweigh the lack of benefits.
“I love my job as an RA, it is really nice to work on-campus
and you can still get other things — like your homework —
completed when you are on duty,” Emily Miller, a third-year
RA in Newland Residence Hall, said. “Benefits would be nice,
but the pay is a very fair compensation.”
“Housing and Residence Life is in a pinch right now,”
Lewis said. “Several RAs proposed the idea of us buying out
rooms on campus, but with the housing situation looking like it
is, that was not even possible.”
“We looked into offering private rooms to student RAs a few
years ago, but because we have so many students living on campus,
it really would be unfair to give private rooms to RAs and have
to turn away more juniors and seniors who want to live on campus,”
Rick L. Geis, director of Housing and Residence Life, said.
“It would also cost the university $250,000 to offer private
rooms to the RAs.
“Maybe in a few years when we have a few more dorms on campus
we will be able to offer private rooms to RAs. However, right now
the best we can do is compensate the RAs through pay,” Geis
said.
“The pay they receive is supposed to be comparable to the meal
plan and almost all of the housing. If the cost of a meal plan goes
up, or the cost of housing goes up, the RAs will receive more pay
to compensate for the rise in those fees,” Geis said. |
