Is K-State really going to Let KU Pay Their Students Better?
K-State and KU have been rivals for over a hundred years, their heated battles on the football field and the basketball court being some of the most anticipated events across both universities. Beyond our rivalry on the court and the field, KU has made the first play in the game of student life, and it’s time we started playing offense.
While our sports teams battle for conference titles, KU has taken the lead in something that affects every student: campus wages. They have a campus-wide minimum wage of $10.25 an hour, and some get paid as much as $20 an hour or more. K-State, on the other hand, has not set their own minimum student wage, instead relying on the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, which has not been modified since July of 2009.
Not only is $7.25 an outdated figure, but it is also well below the living wage in Manhattan, KS. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, a single adult with no children in Manhattan, KS would need $21.46 an hour, full-time, to meet their basic needs, and $7.67 is considered a poverty wage. In the 2025 Student Price Index, published by the K-State Economics Club, the cost of living for the average KSU student has increased by nearly 25% more than the national inflation rate. This is due to certain goods such as groceries, textbooks, and internet, the prices of which have inflated greatly. Meanwhile, Kansas State student wages have not increased in response to these rising prices, and many students struggle with affording their necessities on top of their academic costs.
According to a survey conducted by the YDSA at K-State, about 60% of students report they are self-supporting on their own income. This means that most students have no other forms of income or support, such as their parents, to get them by. They only have themselves to rely on financially, and for many, the well has run dry! Their meager pay, and the pointless $0.25 “raises” in most departments leaves students biting dust. The YDSA found the worst-paid departments are Housing and Dining, K-State Libraries, and the College of Arts and Sciences.
It matters for the whole campus. Anyone who can get paid $7.50/hr (as one of our respondents told us) means we all can be exploited that much more, and perhaps beyond that. One respondent in a survey conducted by the YDSA at K-State stated that their position within the Arts and Sciences department pays a stipend of $700 a semester, and they work on average 9 hours a week. That comes out to $4.86 an hour, far below minimum wage, and this is a loophole that Kansas State has permitted. If one student can be exploited in this way, then we all can. You don’t let Deflategate happen just because you are on Tom Brady’s side; you should call out cheating when it happens and work to prevent it, but K-State is acting like Bill Bellicheck.
Admittedly, both schools fall short of what their students need to thrive. But while KU has at least moved the ball by setting a campus-wide minimum wage, K-State is still right where it started. We should not remain content in sitting on the sidelines, especially when KU is only ahead by a narrow margin. We should respond by countering their campus-wide minimum wage with a higher campus-wide minimum wage and challenge them to raise the bar again.
KU has established that such improvements to student life are not fantasy, and that we do not have to accept low pay just because that’s the way it is when you’re in college. To achieve fair pay for students here at K-State, it will require us to take action and pressure our administration. Crunch time is now, and we need everyone to pitch in to turn the scoreboard in our favor. Here’s how you can help:
- Sign the petition to call the foul on K-State’s administration.
- Share the petition with a friend.
- Get off the bench and join the YDSA at K-State.
We’ve always shown up for our team in the Sunflower Showdown, and now we must show up for each other. With your help, we can fight for fair and equitable wages across campus and ensure that K-State comes out on top where it matters.
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