As University of Wisconsin-Madison students skip meals and work for poverty wages, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s salary has surged past $1 million. While high-level administrators receive massive bonuses, student worker wages stagnate and the cost of living skyrockets in Madison.
Jobs are scarce, and many of the ones the school offers pay too little to serve students’ needs. These contradictions threaten the dignity and livelihood of students, and must be addressed by the administration if they respect the students who call this university home.
This year, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents raised Mnookin’s salary more than that of any other UW System chancellor, and it is set to hit a gargantuan over $1 million, more than twice the salary of the U.S. president. There are numerous benefits associated with the prestigious role, including the opportunity to live for free in a mansion and receive an additional fifty thousand dollars from private donations each year she remains in her role, until 2029. Why are such rewards given if the salary and home value could be used to support thousands of struggling students?
Strangely, student workers have not seen such wage increases. The minimum wage for many UW student jobs still sits at an abysmal $10 per hour and few listings sit above $15. It has been this way for years, and there is no system in place to automatically increase wages in line with the cost of living and tuition. Unfortunately, the university can afford to do this when students, especially internationally, are financially stretched and struggling to find employment. There are few alternatives in this city.
To make matters worse, according to a 2024 survey, nearly a third of students are suffering from food insecurity. Many skip meals to make ends meet. On housing, another review published in 2024 found that 98% of campus housing is already occupied, and the average rental property is 29% more expensive than the price deemed affordable for UW-Madison students. With few options, students are forced into overpriced housing.
The UW Board of Regents has also, in the last few years, prioritized a costly new engineering building over programs to support marginalized students and raised tuition by 5%, while refusing calls to take their hundreds of millions of dollars in investments out of companies complicit in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. The last thing students should have to worry about is being able to afford to stay in school, but things are getting worse.
It’s easy to feel hopeless, but we are not powerless. I have a few ideas: first, we must take a page out of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s book and sell the chancellor’s residence. Like UW-Milwaukee’s chancellor, ours most definitely has the discretionary income to afford housing in this city, contrasting with many of her students. Next, let’s tie student worker incomes to tuition and cost of living. Student wages should never fall below what is necessary to maintain a stable living in Madison.
Additionally, students should not be embarrassed to take advantage of fantastic student-run resources on campus, like the Food Pantry and the Career Closet. Too many students are unaware of these services. This, however, does not erase the need to address the rising costs of essential goods on campus. For a quick, initial list of things the administration may do concerning prices: dorm meal plans should be covered in housing costs, the price of goods the university buys should be limited and tightly negotiated and vendors who refuse to cooperate should be kicked off campus.
Schools should not profit from their students' suffering. The goal is education. That is the bare reality. And we, as students, must put pressure on administration immediately. Our campus-wide campaign to make life as affordable as possible begins now. If UW-Madison truly believes students are its heart, it must stop treating us like its bankroll.
