ACA forces change in meal plan compensation for resident assistants

DAYTON, Ohio — This year Resident Assistants (RAs) will not receive their usual stipend as part of their compensation this year, due to Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirements.

Wright State Director of Housing Dan Bertsos explains how these two are related.

“By compensating students’ room and board, we don’t get tangled up with the ACA. The record keeping we have to do for RAs on time cards required by the ACA would be difficult because RAs’ work is so irregular. One week there were a whole lot of hours and the next week they work few hours. So it would be hard to compensate them that way,” he said.

The stipend given to RAs last year was $102.50 bi-weekly. Instead, they will recieve a 14 swipe-per-week meal plan, which also includes 100 dining dollars. According to Bertsos, this adds an extra benefit for RAs and their residents.

For first year RA Andrea McNeal, the new meal plan combined with room and board is a huge money saver.