FY 2024-25 COLA, Merit Plan FAQs

Eligible staff making $50,000 or less will receive a base salary increase of $1,125*. Eligible staff making more than $50,000 per year will receive a COLA of 2.25%, calculated as a percentage of their base salary.

All eligible faculty members will receive a base salary increase of $1,750.

*Note: Eligible part-time staff members who earn an annualized salary of more than $50,000 will receive a 2.25% increase.

Example:

• 0.5 FTE whose salary is $28,000 = $56,000 full-time equivalent annualized salary
• $28,000 x 2.25% = $630 general increase
• $28,000 + $630 = $28,630 new salary

Eligible part-time staff members whose annualized salary is less than $50,000 will receive a prorated amount of the $1,125 flat increase.

Example:

• 0.5 FTE whose salary is $20,000 = $40,000 annualized salary
• 0.5 FTE x $1,125 = $562.50 general increase
• $20,000 salary + $562.50 = $20,562.50 new salary

Classified and unclassified staff positions with an effective date of hire or an official first day of employment on or before June 15, 2024, in:

• Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) positions
  • Part-time FTE positions will receive a prorated increase, detailed in the question above.
• Time-Limited Positions (TLP) who have standard hours of 30 or more hours, contract permitting
• Temporary Grant Positions (TGP) who have standard hours of 30 or more hours, grant permitting

Faculty members with an effective date of hire or an official first day of employment on or before June 15, 2024, in:

• Full-time Equivalent (FTE) positions who have standard hours of 30 hours or more
• Time-Limited Positions (TLP) who have standard hours of 30 hours or more (contract permitting)
• Temporary Grant Positions (TGP) who have standard hours of 30 hours or more (grant permitting)

• Employees hired after June 15, 2024, or whose last day of employment was on or before June 15, 2024
• Employees in Temporary Positions (TMP)
• Employees in Time-Limited (TLP) or Temporary Grant Positions (TGP) who have standard hours of less than 30 hours
• Student-workers (graduate and undergraduate)
• Employees paid by lump sum only, without a set hourly rate/annual salary (formerly referred to as Intermittent)
• Any employment category that is explicitly excluded from the state guidance (i.e., agency head)
• Judicial employees
• Employees with employment contracts

Employees must have an effective date of hire or an official first day of employment of June 15, 2024, or earlier to be eligible for the cost-of-living adjustment or potential merit-informed increase, so therefore, you are not eligible.

***Note: Some temporary positions will see an increase in their salary or hourly rate if their current rate falls out of a new state pay band range.

Eligible staff members will see this increase beginning with their July 15, 2024, paycheck. While the increase will be included in the July 15, 2024, paycheck, eligible staff members’ base salaries will not be updated in PeopleSoft until a later date.

Eligible faculty members will receive their COLA increase with potential merit-informed increases in the September 30, 2024, paycheck.

State pay bands will increase by 2.25% (the same percentage as the COLA), except for the bottom of Band 1, which will remain equal to minimum wage.

If you receive supplemental pay in addition to your base salary, the supplemental pay is not always eligible for the increase. Supplements based on a whole dollar amount rather than a percentage of base salary are not eligible. In such cases, your pay history will show less than a 2.25% increase. Pay history increases (in percentage) are based on the following equation:

Percent increase = (Total increase in dollars / (Current compensation in dollars including base salary + supplements)) x 100

***Note: Eligible staff members making $50,000 or less will receive an increase of $1,125, resulting in a COLA percentage greater than 2.25%. Eligible faculty members will receive a base salary increase of $1,750, resulting in a COLA percentage greater or less than 2.25% for some individuals.

Supplemental pay such as temporary or administrative salary adjustments are not included in base pay to calculate the general increase. However, for staff who receive the general increase to their base salary and have a supplement based on a percentage of their base salary, supplemental pay will increase based on the increase to their base salary.

Ask-HR or contact the HR Service Center.

Faculty in Full-time Equivalent (FTE) positions who have standard hours of 30 hours or more, Time-Limited Positions (TLP) who have standard hours of 30 hours or more (contract permitting) or Temporary Grant Positions (TGP) who have standard hours of 30 hours or more (grant permitting) hired on or before June 15, 2024.

Merit-informed increase decisions consider employee performance. These decisions factor in achievements based on the criteria established by individual department or school merit matrices. The state regulations allow for the COLA to be administered without uniformity for unclassified positions, values of merit-increases will vary across faculty members and some faculty members may not receive a merit-informed increase.

The increases will be made retroactive to June 16, 2024, for eligible 12-month faculty members and August 15, 2024, for eligible 9-month faculty members.

Eligible faculty receiving a merit-informed increase will receive a communication regarding their increase prior to the change taking effect.

Eligible faculty will receive their COLA increase with potential merit-informed increases and promotions in the September 30, 2024, paycheck.

The increase will appear in the September 30, 2024, check and will be retroactive to June 16, 2024, for eligible 12-month faculty members and to August 15, 2024, for eligible 9-month faculty members.

Yes. The Office of Human Resources is working closely with Budget Officers and senior leadership and providing training and resources for the department users to assign the appropriate increase.

Yes. Employees receiving a merit-informed increase will be notified.

The state guidance provides institutions of higher education the flexibility to implement the cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) without uniformity in regard to unclassified positions. As an R1 institution, the University recognizes the importance of incorporating individual performance, especially among faculty members, in addressing compensation. It is for this reason that the departmental Merit Matrices were developed. In keeping with this performance-based methodology, the remainder of COLA funds for faculty members after the base salary increase of $1,750 will be rolled into the FY24-25 Merit Plan.

Yes. Faculty members promoted through the annual tenure and promotion process with an effective increase date of July 1 or August 15 will receive their increase when merit increases are processed in the September 30 paycheck. Per state regulations, when general increases (including merit) and other salary increases (promotions, etc.) are awarded on the same effective date, the general increase will be applied prior to any other salary increases.