The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) is giving Christmas pay raises this holiday season.
The executive committee of the agency’s board on Wednesday gave unanimous approval of raises up to 3% for 1,000 other non-unionized employees who work there. It is the first raise these employees have received since December 2019. The raises combined carry an annualized cost of $2.4 million, said agency spokesman Keith New.
These Christmas pay raises come amongst a time in which employees had to do additional work amongst the introduction of federal student loan freezes and assistance programs that were instilled at the start of the pandemic.
Rep. Sheryl Delozier, R-Cumberland County, who chairs the PHEAA board’s executive committee, cited the additional work PHEAA employees have taken on as the agency unwinds itself as a federal student loan servicer, a role it has held since 2009. The agency last summer decided managing the federal loan programs had become increasingly complex and costly and wanted to refocus on programs serving Pennsylvania students.
“Over the last 18 months to two years, our staff has worked diligently to get through a federal contract debacle that has left us here in Pennsylvania with a lot of additional work to make sure our families and students are taken care of as well as all those we service across our nation,” Delozier said.
“Our employees have worked hard to make sure that [clients] are served well and deserve the raise the executive committee voted for.”
In addition, the Christmas pay raises serve to compensate for raises that unionized workers have received in past few years.
Further, she said, the raises correct an imbalance that resulted from unionized employees receiving raises over the past two years while their non-union co-workers’ pay stagnated. She said that left some supervisors earning less than those they supervise.
These raises will take effect on Christmas day, right in time for the holiday season.
To read more about the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency’s pay raises, click here.
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