Oregon lawmakers recently passed a minimum wage increase. Colleges and Universities are now starting to wonder how this will affect on-campus jobs for students.

Minimum wage was increased to $13.50 and could put stress onto the budgets of schools that employ their students. Governor Kate Brown signed the bill into law last week.

Colleges and Universities employ many of their own students at minimum wage, so this increase is going to make things very problematic.

Work study allows students to gain experience before going into the work force. It also allows the schools to grow a community of student workers as opposed to hiring staff from outside the schools.

The students of Linfield may end up getting less hours because of the set amount of money in each department used for work study.

While many may see this as a godsend, the new increase may send the prices of other things skyrocketing.

Oregon Live posted about the matter saying, “’It will kill jobs, harm consumers, force school and government service cuts and hurt Oregon farms and small businesses,’ Jason Brandt, president and CEO of the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association and spokesman for Defend Oregon Jobs, said in a statement. “We urge the House to defeat this plan that puts election year politics ahead of Oregon’s economy.”

People have been advocating for the wage increase for years, maybe without thinking about how it will impact employers and their businesses.

From another point of view it could be said that people have been needing this kind of law to be passed for some time. The new increase will be helping lower and middle-class families, but with other ramifications that may not have been thought through.