By Austin Anderson, Assistant Professor – Kinesiology & Sport, University of Southern Indiana, and Alice Kersting

On February 17, representatives from NIRSA met with the United States Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service to advocate for reasonable accommodations for student employees under the Affordable Care Act. NIRSA was invited to attend the meeting with representatives of other higher education associations, including the American Council on Education (ACE), the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA), and the Association of College and University Housing Officers – International (ACUHO-I).

The following individuals attended the meeting by phone on behalf of the Association: Yvette Kell, Director of Campus Recreation, CENTERS, LLC at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and member of the Policy & Legislation Committee; Austin Anderson, Assistant Professor at the University of Southern Indiana and Chair of the Policy & Legislation Committee; and NIRSA Executive Director Pam Watts.

Initially, there was a discussion about the unintended impacts the ACA is having on research assistants and residential life students as well as possible alternatives for these individuals. Following this conversation, Yvette summarized the effects that changes to insurance coverage eligibility by the ACA has on collegiate recreation student employees. Student employees—both graduate and undergraduate—are particularly impacted as many work for extended periods of time while traveling with sport clubs or outdoor trips or have sporadic work hours.

Yvette emphasized collegiate recreation’s unique student employment philosophy, which intentionally provides student development through experiential learning work opportunities and recognizes that a student’s job is first and foremost to be a student. She concluded by offering potential alternatives. Recommendations included recognizing that many students are already insured by ACA-compliant insurance by a parent or through a student health insurance plan, averaging hours worked over the course of an academic year, and considering an exemption or ratio for tracking sleep hours. Representatives of the Department of Treasury were critical, but receptive, of the suggested alternatives and have asked representatives to finalize and submit recommendations for final consideration.

The NIRSA Policy & Legislation Committee has been monitoring the impact of the Affordable Care Act since it became law in 2010, and has been advocating for reasonable accommodations for student employees. In January 2015, NIRSA joined colleagues from ACE, CUPA-HR, NASPA, and ACUHO-I in an initial meeting with the Department of Treasury to identify unintended consequences and consider alternatives for these unique employment opportunities. That spring, NRISA members were invited to complete a brief survey regarding the impact of new legislation on their campuses. Both qualitative and quantitative member feedback from 2015 was crucial in forming the Policy & Legislation Committee’s response to the Treasury, including the drafting of a response paper.

 

For more information about the NIRSA Policy & Legislation Committee’s Affordable Care Act advocacy work or other policy and advocacy issues affecting collegiate recreation, please contact NIRSA Special Projects Coordinator Alice Kersting.