Obamacare

Obamacare: Universities Have to Cut Work Hours for Students, Profs

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Obamacare signing
White House

Universities everywhere are scaling back on part-time work opportunities for students and adjunct professors in order to comply with the Affordable Care Act. According to Campus Reform:

Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) is restricting student work because of compliance issues associated with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare.

In an email last week, MTSU President Sidney McPhee explained that "due to our interpretation of the reporting requirements of ACA," graduate assistants, adjunct faculty members, and resident assistants are barred from working on-campus jobs that exceed 29 hours of work per week.

Now, they cannot take on multiple campus jobs. …

Capping hours associated with on-campus employment is quickly becoming the norm. Since 2012, at least 111 colleges and universities have limited adjunct professor course loads, capped student employment hours, or reduced hours for part-time faculty according to a list compiled byInvestor's Business Daily.

I mentioned previously that the 30-hour cap was going to really hurt student journalists unless Congress approved some kind of exemption. But Obamacare's ill-effects are everywhere. Requiring employers to offer health insurance to 30-hours-a-week workers carries the same, entirely predictable result as requiring employers to pay 30-hours-a-week workers more money: fewer 30-hours-a-week workers.