By Austin Anderson
When the Affordable Care Act became law in March 2010, one of the main concerns for campuses was the mandate stating that a large employer must either offer full-time employees—and their dependents—certain insurance coverage or risk paying certain penalties. Under this definition, a college or university with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees is considered a large employer and subject to the employer mandate.
Because campus recreation departments must hire a large number of student employees, including undergraduates and graduates, this mandate can be an issue. It can be a challenge—depending on the student employee’s job responsibilities—to track the hours of students who work in various capacities that can potentially make them eligible for coverage. This has led to concern about the law being interpreted in different ways.
The US Treasury has convened a group of representatives from different college and university populations to discuss the impact of the Affordable Care Act on their campuses. As Chair of NIRSA’s Policy and Legislation Committee, I have been representing the Association during these conversations. In collaboration with representatives from the Association of College and University Housing Officers – International (ACUHO-I), NIRSA is now collecting data that provides insight on the range of campus concerns regarding the Affordable Care Act to present to the US Treasury.
Please take a few minutes to share data on your program and highlight your concerns by taking the Affordable Care Act and Campus Recreation Survey, which will inform future implementation guidelines associated with the Affordable Care Act. Since each campus recreation department is unique, it is essential that you let us know what concerns you have so that we can best help support you and your campus community.
The complete survey results will be used as a baseline of current practices for the US Treasury as they evaluate guidance to help campuses work within the law. Thank you for contributing to this important data collection.
For more information about NIRSA’s Affordable Care Act and Campus Recreation Survey, please contact NIRSA’s Policy and Legislation Committee Chair Austin Anderson.
