We commended Dallas College for its generosity in doling out raises last month, but unfortunately, some of that praise must be rescinded.

This semester, the Board of Trustees approved a 5% raise to full-time staff, full-time administrators and part-time staff, but chose to leave out work-study and non-work-study part-time student employees from the increase.

The city of Dallas determined that for the 2024 fiscal year, the living wage – the minimum income needed for a worker to meet their basic needs – would increase to $18.24 from 2023’s $17.82. Currently, Dallas College’s part-time student workers are paid only $15 hourly and limited to 19.5 hours a week.

In their meeting, the board approved a liveable wage increase that would see the hourly rate of “approximately 88 full-time employees” and “approximately 309 part-time employees” bumped up to the $18 mark, but, students weren’t included anywhere in this count.

A Sept. 26 update addressed leaving work-study students out of the wage increase to not jeopardize their employment due to a low financial aid allotment.

 In the same statement, Dallas College doubled down on the $18 pay raise but failed to address non-work-study students employed by the college who received no such raise.

While none of the wage slaves at The Et Cetera have a second job, some of us are certainly considering it after such a big letdown. A few of us have been here a handful of years, and while $15 an hour used to make for a nice check, with today’s inflation across groceries, gas and other goods, money just doesn’t stretch as far as it used to.

With the cost of living in Dallas steadily rising, we can only hope that someday soon Dallas College decides to throw its students a bone. 

Until then, it’s time to re-download Indeed or look into Etsy side-hustles.