As CSU workers, inflation and the skyrocketing cost of living in Fort Collins have decreased the true value of all our wages and salaries. We need a pay increase to keep up with the rising cost-of-living. The prices of rent, food, healthcare, utilities, and transportation have all risen because of inflation, which places an enormous strain on our ability to survive in the place where we work. The effects of this inflation crisis are most deeply felt by the most vulnerable and marginalized workers in the CSU System. Our University has refused to act as employees have become dependent on the campus food pantry, unable to afford the basic necessities required to live with dignity. The MIT living wage calculator places the minimum annual livable income in Fort Collins for one adult without children at $51,000. By comparison, the current baseline annual salary for Adjuncts/Instructors and Administrative Professionals at CSU is roughly $50,000, the minimum stipend for Graduate Workers is $17,000 per year, and many Undergraduate Workers make the minimum wage in Colorado of $14.42/hour. This situation is untenable; our working conditions must change.

Our insufficient compensation harms not only us, but the university itself. Workers across CSU are simply not paid a competitive salary for essential work, and many leave in search of more sustainable careers or work multiple jobs to make ends meet. This leads to high turnover and increased workload for the remaining staff. When the increasingly high cost of living in Fort Collins is factored in, CSU salaries and wages are not competitive even among our own “peer institutions” (according to the Colorado Board of Governors), a fact which also harms the University’s reputation and its status as a land-grant, R1 institution. Too often, CSU employees are forced by their financial situations, coupled with salary compression and a lack of clear paths to promotion, to view their positions as transitional and temporary, a stepping stone to educational and career advancement. This precarity also prevents our departments/units, schools, and colleges/divisions from providing CSU students with consistent and high-quality course offerings. Units across the CSU System are often stuck in a cycle of hiring and training workers because of high turnover caused by low salaries, and this cycle diverts resources that should be used to provide our students with the educational experience that they deserve.

Things need to change. We demand pay raises so that CSU employees’ work is compensated commensurately with our vital contributions to the University, and to make CSU a fairer and more equitable place to work. Workers make CSU run, and we should be paid like it!

Sources:
MIT Living Wage Database, Fort Collins: https://livingwage.mit.edu/metros/22660
Modern Language Association Recommendations on Minimum Per-Course Compensation, July 2024: https://www.mla.org/Resources/Guidelines-and-Data/Reports-and-Professional-Guidelines/MLA-Recommendation-on-Minimum-Per-Course-Compensation-for-Part-Time-Faculty-Members