U of A to raise minimum wage July 1, give faculty and staff raises Oct. 1

University of Arizona officials announced they will provide university-wide raises by increasing the university’s minimum wage on July 1 and boosting faculty and staff salaries starting Oct. 1.

They will increase the minimum wage from $15 to $16.50, “to raise the floor for university pay and benefit the lowest paid of our employees.”

“These colleagues often work on the front lines of our institution, ensuring every member of our community and everyone who visits has a rewarding experience, and their contributions are deeply appreciated,” university officials wrote.

The raises for “most employees” to follow, starting in October, will be given from a pool equaling 2.75% of eligible staff salaries and 2.25% of eligible faculty salaries in each college and division.

However, senior officials who make more than $250,000 annually will be exempt from the raises.

UA President Suresh Garimella “expressed how impressed he is with your dedication and talent,” Interim Provost Ron Marx and Chief Financial Officer John Arnold wrote Thursday to the university community in making the announcement. “The University of Arizona has extraordinary employees, and our leadership team is united in our desire to make this an exceptional place for you to work.”

Garimella, who started at the UA on Oct. 1, has also pledged to end the university’s financial deficit this fiscal year.

UA spokesperson Mitch Zak confirmed Friday that “the FY26 budget, which begins on July 1, will be balanced and will not have a deficit.”

The UA’s financial crisis, as described by then-UA President Robert C. Robbins in November 2023, has resulted in 328 layoffs including elimination of 13 vice president posts. The original deficit, estimated at $240 million, had been trimmed to about $65 million at last update.

While Marx and Arnold acknowledged the UA is still dealing with its financial challenges, they said Garimella directed them to make this “overdue investment” in the UA’s workforce.

They added, “Senior leaders, including senior vice presidents, vice presidents, deans and vice provosts, and other faculty and staff earning above $250,000 annually will not be eligible for this increase.”

Chair of the Faculty Leila Hudson said the raises are welcome news to a workforce she alleged has been “abused” by its management for years.

“While it is far less than inflation — the COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) raises that other state employees get, let alone the average rate of increase in a world class organization — it’s a sign that our new administration realizes that Arizona must invest in the world class people that make it run,” said Hudson. “You’ll know we’re really out of the woods when our faculty are paid what they would make at other institutions and our hourly workers make $25.00 an hour. But this is a first step.”

Secretary of the faculty Katie Zeiders, a UA professor of human development and family science, said increasing the pay of the lowest-paid employees is an important step in the right direction.

“The U of A consists of countless employees who are vital to delivering our academic mission; I’m encouraged that our university leadership team recognizes this and is willing to provide an increase, albeit a small one, in their wages,” said Zeiders.

“A salary increase program has also been proposed, and we hope that this does not come at the expense of further job losses, which could hinder our ability to carry out our land-grant mission of research, discovery, and innovation across the state,” she continued.

Danny Clifford, a senior lecturer of English in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, said he is happy with the announcement, especially since his department has not seen raises for a while.

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“As one of the members of the task force in my department that worked for the past year on getting a salary increase for lecturers in the writing program, and for it to finally come through, I am extremely happy that the university finally got this stuff together and decided to give salary increases across the board,” said Clifford.

Clifford said it is interesting that the university has walked a very fine line due to the federal orders from the Trump administration, dealing with mandates against diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and the loss of federal grants.

He said he is glad to have more of a clear timeline for the UA’s attempt to give hardworking teachers and administrators a fair wage for the work they do.

“It’s definitely not where it should be, but it’s going to be better,” said Clifford.

Nolan Cabrera, a UA professor of educational policy studies and practice, said he is partially pleased by the news.

“While I am very happy these raises are coming as people in our community very much need them — especially the increase in minimum wage — these increases should have been made long ago,” said Cabrera. “This delay is the continued consequence (of) central administration’s financial mismanagement.”

Matthew Abraham, a UA professor of English, said the salary increases and raises were “long overdue and far too little of a raise.”

“It’s a shame that the administration sees this long overdue raise, as low as it is, as progress,” said Abraham.

Faculty Senator Lucy Ziurys said the raises could increase what she called the very low morale of faculty and staff, depending on the amount as well as where the money comes from.

“If the funding comes from resources that are currently used for teaching and research, that will hardly be an improvement,” she said. “The obvious places for funding sources are from the bloated administration” and from money spent to prop up athletics.

Zak didn’t respond to specific comments but noted that along with providing raises and a balanced budget for FY26, the UA is not increasing resident undergraduate tuition for the upcoming school year. He also pointed to the fact that administrative budgets took the largest percentage reductions of 10%-15% in comparison to the 3%-5% reductions faced by academic units while the deficit was being reduced.

Jeremy Bernick, president of the UA Graduate and Professional Student Council, praised the salary increase and said it is thanks to the efforts of United Campus Workers, Arizona, Local 7065, which pushed for it and also demanded that senior administration positions be cut under a “#chopfromthetop model.”

“The chosen delivery of this administration’s update perfectly reflects this campaign’s aim: to uplift the workers of Arizona’s campuses and to divest from the bloat of senior leadership,” said Bernick.

Adriana Grijalva, president of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona, said the increase in the university’s minimum wage is a significant change.

“I am very happy to see that they will receive a well-deserved raise,” said Grijalva. “However, as these raises are implemented across campus on Oct. 1st, as a U of A community, we recognize that there are still ongoing financial challenges the university.”