BY JASON POMBO // APRIL 3, 2017 //

As of January, 1st 2017, the minimum wage in Massachusetts was raised from $10 per hour, to $11 per hour. It was the second year in a row that Massachusetts has raised their minimum wage.

However, this pay raise will not automatically apply for everyone in Massachusetts. According to the Human Resources office at Curry College, the State of Massachusetts allows for some exemptions to the minimum wage requirements. Curry College, being an educational institution, is provided a waiver from the State of Massachusetts.

The waiver states that Curry College can maintain wage structure to the student employment program; meaning they do not have to change anything if they do not feel it is just.

Curry College has decided not to exercise their right to use Massachusetts’s exemption and instead has implemented the 2017 minimum wage increase for student employees being paid below the new minimum wage.

“The minimum wage increase benefits students employed on campus, allowing them to earn a higher wage rate to help assist with college expenses,” said Mirlen A. Mal, Vice President of Human Resources at Curry College.

College is very expensive, in every aspect and every category. When it comes to housing, books, tuition, and a meal plan, nothing is cheap, and every little thing helps when it comes to affording College.

According to the Boston Globe, Massachusetts’s minimum wage of $11 is amongst the highest in the country but California and New York have already made plans to increase their minimum hourly wage to a whopping $15.

For now, an extra $1 is all we’ve got; but is a $1 raise really significant? $1 may not seem like a whole lot of cash, but for College students it goes a long way.

“A raise is always good, nobody can dispute that, but when it comes to paying off College, it’s different,” said James Deziel, a freshman communication major and work study employee at the writing center.

“It’s a good increase but to make a great impact it would have to go up higher…but I’m not mad at it,” said Damani Carter, a junior business major and work study employee at the Levin Library, about the minimum wage increase. “You still definitely notice it.”

This was the second straight year that Curry College has agreed to follow through with the rest of the State of Massachusetts and give a raise to their employees.

“I believe the College’s approach in reviewing the State of Massachusetts minimum wage increase has been with due diligence,” said Vice President Mal. “We conducted a comprehensive review of on-campus student positions in order to help inform the decision process”

In the coming years we’ll have to wait and see if Curry will comply with the proposed $15 hourly wage. College kids are desperate, but hey who can blame us?