Student Compensation

Learn more about Student Hourly Hiring Ranges and Student Hourly increases.

Student Hourly - Hiring Range

The current KU minimum wage for student hourly appointments is $10.00 per hour. Units may pay student hourlies up to $20.00 per hour with department approval. Rates of $20.01 or higher require advanced approval from Human Resource Management (HRM) by submitting a description of work and rationale to employ@ku.edu.

Managing Student Hourly Increases

Student hourly employees may be eligible for an increase due to performance, longevity, acquisition of new credentials, cost of living, etc. All increases must be recommended by the supervisor, funded, and approved by the unit hierarchy in advance for a future effective date and not be retroactive.

KU utilizes a standardized process for units to request an increase for a student hourly employees active in the HR/Pay system. Rate increase requests will be collected three times a year for each academic period (fall, spring, and summer) with a standardized effective date.

How does it Work?

  • The Shared Service Center (SSC) will provide units a list of active student hourly employees at the beginning of each academic period with instructions. 
  • Units and supervisors wanting to give raises will be required to complete and return their raise requests by the deadline given to the SSC.

Important Points to Remember:

  • Increases may not be retroactive.
  • Rate increases are not required by HRM unless a rate is lower than state or federal minimum wage requirements or university policy/guidelines.
  • Increase requests received after the deadline will be required to wait until the next increase period to be applied.  Supervisors are to adhere to the University increase timeframe model and are not to make commitments outside of the stated deadlines unless they have been pre-approved by HRM.
  • Units, Dean’s, or Vice Provost offices may have additional eligibility requirements and earlier deadlines for student hourly increases. Please contact your area hierarchy for details.

*See Process Deadlines below.  

2024-2025 Process Deadlines

Academic TermSpreadsheet Distribution Date (SSC HR)Due Date to HRM  Rate Effective
Spring 20241/5/241/25/242/4/24
Summer 20246/3/246/20/246/23/24
Fall 20248/26/249/12/249/15/24

Using this OAC-HR bookmark link

Add the parameters based on the ARSP/Department that you are covering then Apply

Under Page Criteria change the As of Date to be "is less than for equal to" and put in the effective date of the current semester increase. e.g. 2/19/2023 then Apply

The formatting of the data needs to stay as is on the report with only the modifications listed below. This is critical for the data to be loaded back to HR/Pay.

Do not change the order of the columns and do not change any other data that is extracted. 

Extract the report by selecting Export>Data>Excel

You are to add one column at the far right entitled “New Comp Rate” to the report.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT that you follow these steps as the upload will not work.

Rehiring a Former Student Hourly Employee

KU will utilize a new “Rehire” process for students terminated at the end of the Spring semester that are returning to the same position after the summer break.

How does it Work?

  • Units and supervisors will be provided by the Shared Service Center (SSC) a list of students that were terminated each May. 
  • If the unit/supervisor identifies a student on the list needs to be rehired for the fall semester, they will simply add the information to the spreadsheet following the instructions provided.

What does it Solve?

  • Provides supervisors an easy way to rehire a returning student hourly employee at the same or different rate of pay without a search or direct hire.

When is the Student Rehire Process Available to Units?

  • August 1st through September 8th