By Eduardo Zermeno in Campus News, College Days, Student Life on November 13, 2025
Mark Nicklaus and Ex-ResLife workers give their perspective regarding the RA position
One of the better-paying jobs on the Ripon College campus is working for ResLife. The job entails monitoring residence halls year-round. Through this job, students are able to learn a variety of different working skills.
But students who have worked for ResLife don’t feel the hours and the pay match the responsibilities they are given. They feel they work far more than their salaries reflect.
Kaja believes that ResLife compensation does not accurately reflect the work RAs are asked to do. Photo courtesy of Ally Kaja.
ResLife assistants (RAs) are salaried $110 a week, which breaks down to 10 hours at $11 an hour. The RAs perform a variety of duties, ranging from decorating bulletin boards to performing rounds. The RAs sign a contract adhering to the job description and salary. Nonetheless, there are still concerns and issues, despite consciously accepting the position.
Seniors Ally Kaja and Lee Krueger are among the former ResLife staff who believe the salary-to-hours worked ratio is not justified.
“My sophomore year, our RHD would tally our hours to compare them to our compensation and found that overall, we worked a lot more hours than what we were compensated for. This probably wouldn’t have felt bad if we were paid on a regular stipend instead of putting in hours every week,” Kaja said.
“RAs frequently work much longer than 10 hours a week. During the beginnings and ends of semesters, RAs put in anywhere from 10 – 20 hours with bulletin boards, room checks, door decs, and on duty nights,” Krueger said.
RAs are not scheduled every day of the week. They are only on duty 1-3 times per week, and these are the shifts they are compensated for. However, there are aspects of the job that Kaja and Krueger feel they are not compensated for.
“RAs might only be scheduled one to two days a week, but are expected to be on call 24/7, with ‘off days’ needing to be scheduled in advance. They are required to be in their rooms between 3 and 7 a.m. for this reason. An RA can be called into work at whatever time if they are called, regardless of whether or not they are on duty, and none of that counts towards hours as they are salary locked to 10 hours,” Krueger said.
Kaja also emphasized that the salary is not the only aspect left unresolved. She stated that her and her colleagues’ concerns were not well addressed, leading to emotional strains.
“The distress of the job came from the culture surrounding ResLife, particularly that nothing that we said or did mattered. Students didn’t really respect us, and it was hard to try to command that respect because it didn’t feel like anyone had our back, especially from Mark. Any suggestions we had never made it anywhere, same went for our concerns,” Kaja said.
Kaja also described the decision many RAs are confronted with staying to make ResLife a better opportunity for posterity, or simply leave.
While Kaja and Krueger voiced their concerns with ResLife, Kaja did highlight some good memories worth noting.
“I met some of my best friends because we were on duty together. I gained leadership skills and perseverance, and at some point, I genuinely loved the job,” Kaja said.
Despite these positive notes about the job, there are fundamental issues that Kaja and Lee cannot ignore.
“[Promises] were made that would change the ResLife culture, and none of those promises were kept,” Kaja said.
“I think [ResLife] would be able to keep RAs around for longer if [ResLife] paid them what their job was worth. The time and effort RAs put in, coupled with their own lives and education, is worth way more than $110 a week, but they don’t want to pay more,” Krueger said.
There are a number of other institutions across the state that use a different system for RA compensation. Some campuses pay their RAs’ room and board and/or meal plan. Kaja and Lee stated that this could be a potential solution to issues.
“It would be more worth the job. The ’discount’ barely makes a dent in tuition, and food and parking are still the same. For a job that is supposed to have ’benefits,’ they aren’t very good,” Krueger said.
Kaja stated that this form of compensation would be a step in the right direction, but for her, there are more pressing issues.
“As nice as it would be to adopt some other college models of paying for room and board instead of a stipend, even that would not fix the actual problems of ResLife as it currently stands. I know a lot of students are currently working on fixing ResLife culture (helping their RAs feel seen, heard, and respected),” Kaja said. “But if the leaving RHDs are [representative of anything], then I don’t think [Mark Nicklaus] will do anything to fix it.
Nicklaus, in his 9th year at Ripon as the Director of Reslife, compares Ripon’s compensation program to other institutions. Photo courtesy of Ric Damm.
“That, honestly, is the most saddening part, because ResLife does have the potential to be an opportunity rather than a burden,” Kaja stated.
Nicklaus, head of Residence Life on campus, described the RA program at Ripon and why workers are compensated the way they are. He has worked at ResLife programs at Eastern Illinois University, the University of North Dakota, and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
“Some institutions receive full room and board, like the University of North Dakota and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. [RAs at Ripon] don’t get full room and board because they are also student leaders. [Ripon College] needs workers at the library, and they work outside of school,” Nicklaus said.
Kaja and Krueger stated that the $110-a-week salary was not sufficient for the effort they were committing. Nicklaus explained that at institutions that offer room and board, RAs are imposed heavy restrictions.
“They are not given full paychecks, but they are expected to be full-time employees. They couldn’t have a job outside of schools. They weren’t allowed to be athletes unless they signed a petition explaining why,” Nicklaus said.
Nicklaus also stated that RAs were not allowed to be a part of Greek life and were required to be on campus 24/7 at other schools: “We don’t like all those restrictions.”
In addition to the flexibility RAs receive in comparison to other institutions, Nicklaus stated that Ripon College has taken steps to make the workload lighter.
“[RAs years ago] were only given two nights a month off, where they were required to be in their rooms 28-29 days of the month. We have increased that to eight nights per month. They were required to do 8-10 programs for students and have now reduced it to four,” Nicklaus said.
Nicklaus emphasized that these previous requirements were amended to give RAs more of a “semblance of a social life…outside of ResLife.”
Kaja and Krueger stated that adopting a compensation system that covers room and board would be more justified. Nicklaus, however, explained that it would be an expensive cost and would require “higher expectations because of that extra compensation.”
When prompted with the feasibility of extending this compensation system to Ripon, Nicklaus said, “My gut is telling me it is not feasible because so many students are involved in athletics… Greek life…clubs… we couldn’t impose these restrictions on [our RAs]. I wouldn’t want to. We need tutors, workers at the library, and workers at Sage. That’s one reason Ripon [uses this compensation system]. We are taking off a lot of the responsibilities that other RAs have across the country.”
While RAs say they are not compensated properly, Nicklaus states he would like to implement a compensation format, such as room and board. However, it comes with nuanced implications. Photo courtesy of Eduardo Zermeno.
Nicklaus explained that Ripon College is the first institution he’s worked at that doesn’t offer room and board for the RAs. He explained that he wants to make a change, but it requires more than willpower to accomplish.
“When I [arrived at Ripon College], I was arguing – I still do argue – that we need room and board for the RAs. But it’s been tampered a little bit with our budget numbers and class sizes,” Nicklaus said. “I have talked with President Folse, and she agrees that [room and board compensation] is the goal.”
Niklaus also said that he believes the position may look different 10 years from now.
“I think future RA training is going to focus a lot more on mental health. A lot more focus on the transition from being a kid in high school to being an adult on your own. The goal is to start bringing in more [students] through admissions, and [Ripon College] has plans for that. The goal is to reach, at some point, 800-1000 students on campus; that additional funding will allow us to get a lot more creative. We can get a lot more funding in our pockets so that we can properly compensate not only RAs, but all student workers on campus,” Nicklaus said.
“We’re on a good start this year from this freshman class, but we’re still battling the last three classes–the numbers were a little bit low…It’s going to take a little bit before we can [implement a new compensation system], unfortunately. It’s in the long term. It pains me. I know it’s not comforting for the RAs who are here now, but that’s where we’re at,” Nicklaus said.