The recent minimum wage increase affects about 1,700 positions on campus, said Celeste Latham, student employment manager.

Student workers are among the people most affected by this increase. Most student workers start at minimum wage, said Joyce Chaney, human resources manager of Student Housing and Dining.

University officials said they prepared for the $1 increase, which took effect Jan. 1.

Carl Campbell, associate professor of economics, said the new $6.50 minimum wage helps people have a better standard of living.

However, the wage increase could hurt people looking for jobs because businesses might hire fewer workers to cut expenses, Campbell said.

NIU has “not seen a dramatic effect on hiring,” said Steve Cunningham, associate vice president of administration and human resources. The increase had been incorporated into the budget, with many departments already raising wages before Jan. 1, he said.

Lucy Townsend, curator of the Blackwell History of Education Museum, took a different approach to the wage hike. The Blackwell Museum relies mainly on students involved with work-study programs who, like other student workers, start at minimum wage.

Townsend said NIU Human Resources told her she could not hire new workers for the coming semester and also could not replace workers who quit or were fired. She said she thought this was due to the minimum wage increase.

Cunningham said that this policy was not related to the wage increase. The new policy, he said, was due more to the fact that budget pressures in general tend to increase reliance on the work-study program. The new minimum wage is a small part of this.

As a result, the university’s federal work-study budget was “expending [sic] at a rate that couldn’t be maintained,” Cunningham said.

Jason Kazmierczak, a senior political science major working for the Huskie Telefund, was pleased. He said he is saving his money for a trip over Spring Break, and the wage increase helps his effort.

Townsend also favors the wage increase.

“Students do valuable work, and I like to pay them if I can,” she said.

Cunningham supports the wage increase and the additional compensation it provides students.

However, he also said the increase puts additional pressure on the university’s budget. The increase is the “latest of many pressures on departmental budgets,” Cunningham said.