Pros and Cons of Being an RA in College

Somebody told you RAs live for free. Then you saw the number on next year's housing bill, and now the application is open in another tab.

The free part is half true, and which half you get depends entirely on the school. At Notre Dame the package is worth $18,438 and the university states it isn't taxed.

At Northwestern the same job pays $11,000 and every dollar of it is taxable. Same title, same academic year, and nobody volunteers which version is on the table.

There's a third version too. If you're on need-based aid, your school may count the whole benefit as a resource and take it back out of your grant, which turns a five figure perk into something much smaller. That one is worth finding out before you apply rather than after.

Below: what the job pays at five universities, why one taxes it and another doesn't, what twenty hours a week turns out to mean, and then the pros and cons with the duplicates stripped out.

What the Job Really Pays

Compensation comes in up to three pieces: your housing, your meals, and cash. Schools mix them differently, and the mix is what determines your tax bill and your aid.

Read the meals column twice. Rhode Island requires a meal plan and doesn't include it, so an RA there pays for their own food out of the stipend.

UT Arlington pays apartment RAs more precisely because they get no meal plan. Two schools, opposite solutions, and both are easy to miss in a recruitment presentation.

LSU pays more for the harder buildings. Its stipend runs $2,000 a semester in apartment communities, $2,200 in suite bath communities and $2,500 in hall bath communities. If your school does something similar, the building you request changes your pay.

Why One School Taxes It and Another Doesn't

This looks arbitrary until you see the rule underneath, and then it's predictable. It comes down to whether the school gives you a thing or gives you money.

Notre Dame spells out the reasoning on its own page. The benefit is tax free because it's provided for the convenience of the University, meals are furnished on university premises, and the RA is required to live in an assigned room as a condition of employment.

Lodging you must occupy to do the job isn't treated as income.

Cash is different. Northwestern doesn't waive the room, it pays you a $9,500 room stipend and charges you a discounted rate, and money that lands in your account is wages. That's why its RAs get a taxable stipend and Notre Dame's don't, for what looks like the same benefit.

One question settles it. Ask the housing office whether the housing is a waiver or a payment. If it's a payment, budget for the tax now rather than in April.

The Financial Aid Catch Nobody Mentions

If you receive need-based aid, the RA benefit may not be added to what you already have. It can be counted as a resource and subtracted from it.

Duke states the mechanism plainly: the RA room value and stipend are included in your aid offer in the same manner as an outside scholarship, taking the place of loan or work-study funds.

And if they're worth more than the loan and work-study you had, Duke grant amounts are reduced.

It shows up elsewhere too. Northwestern warns that because RAs are fed, the aid budget no longer includes a meal component, which may reduce the overall award. LSU's agreement says student aid must consider the RA benefit when determining need-based eligibility.

So the honest version is this. For a full-pay student, the RA package is close to its sticker value. For a student on substantial grant aid, it may be worth a fraction of that, and the fraction is knowable before you apply.

Email financial aid, not housing, and ask what your offer looks like with and without the role.

What You're Signing Up For

Western Michigan publishes the shape of the job clearly enough to quote, and most programs look similar:

• Roughly 20 hours a week. That's the estimate Western Michigan and Rhode Island both publish, not a student's complaint.

• A weekly duty night, 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. Overnight, in the building, responding to whatever happens.

• A duty weekend about once a month. From 5 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Monday.

• A three hour desk shift each week, plus a two hour staff meeting and a regular one-on-one with your supervisor.

• Training starts two weeks before new students move in. At LSU that meant moving in on 1 August and training from 3 to 14 August.

• You stay when everyone else leaves. Rhode Island lists break period hours in the job, and LSU's calendar closes the halls on 13 December and releases RAs on the 14th, after 3 p.m.

Eligibility is narrower than most students expect. Western Michigan asks for a 2.6 cumulative GPA, 16 credits already earned, and two semesters of living in on-campus housing.

LSU requires two semesters of enrollment before you start, full-time enrolment while you serve, and excludes graduate students entirely.

Missing time costs you money, not just goodwill. LSU's agreement says an RA unable to work more than three days of a weekly pay period has their pay altered accordingly. A bad flu week is a smaller paycheck as well as a scramble for cover.

The GPA bar is lower than students assume, and it moves. Rhode Island asks for a 2.30 cumulative and semester GPA plus good standing with its Office of Community Standards, while Western Michigan sets the line at 2.6. Neither is out of reach, but both are checked every term, not just at application.

The constraint that catches people: your other work is capped. Western Michigan limits additional on-campus employment to five hours, and international students aren't permitted outside employment at all.

Rhode Island tells applicants to avoid other university-funded campus jobs outright. If you're currently working fifteen hours somewhere else, the RA job replaces it rather than joining it.

The Pros

Ten reasons the role is worth having, without repeating any of them:

• It's the biggest paying student job on campus. Nothing else a sophomore can get pays five figures in value.

• Housing is settled before the lottery. No scramble, no signing a lease in November for a place you haven't seen.

• Usually a single room. Privacy that other students pay a premium for, included.

• Meals, at most schools. Check the column above, because it isn't universal.

• Crisis training you'd otherwise never get. Mental health first aid, conflict de-escalation, emergency response, all before your third year.

• Leadership that a reference can verify. A supervisor who watched you handle a real incident writes a better letter than a club title does.

• You learn how the university works. Who decides things, which office fixes what, and how to escalate. That's worth more than it sounds when something goes wrong in your own life.

• No commute and no scheduling conflict. The job is where you live, so it never collides with a lab that runs late.

• A pay rise exists. Northwestern pays senior RAs $3,000 instead of $1,500, and most programs have a returning tier.

• It forces a structure on your week. For a lot of students that's the difference between a good semester and a drifting one.

The Cons

And ten real costs, each one a separate thing rather than the same objection split three ways:

• Twenty hours a week that you don't control. The work arrives when it arrives, usually at night.

• It can reduce your financial aid. For an aided student this is the single biggest factor, and it's invisible until you ask.

• It may be taxable, and the rules differ by school. A $9,500 taxable room stipend isn't the same offer as a $9,500 waiver.

• You move in two weeks early. That's two weeks of summer earnings gone, every year you hold the job.

• Overnight duty. A 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. shift the night before a 9 a.m. exam is a normal occurrence, not bad luck.

• One weekend a month isn't yours. Friday evening to Monday morning, in the building.

• Your outside work is capped. Five hours of other campus employment at Western Michigan, and nothing at all for international students there.

• You enforce rules on your neighbours. The person you write up on Friday is still living twelve feet away on Saturday.

• Your housing is tied to your job. LSU's agreement allows immediate dismissal at the department's sole discretion, and losing the role means losing the room it came with.

• Everyone knows where you sleep. There's no version of this job where you go home at the end of the shift.

Who Should Take It

The role fits you if you're a full-pay or loan-funded student, you already live on campus, you want the housing cost gone, and your schedule has room for twenty hours that you can't move.

Think harder if you're on substantial grant aid, if you're carrying a heavy clinical or lab schedule, or if you already work more than five hours a week somewhere you want to keep.

Three questions, in this order, before you apply. Is the housing a waiver or a payment? What does my aid offer look like with the role and without it? And is the meal plan included, required, or neither?

If you're weighing this against just getting the housing costs down, we have a separate guide to saving money on student housing, and if the residents side of it worries you most, dealing with a difficult roommate covers the conversations you'd be having professionally.

New to campus and still working out the basics? Start with our first year college tips.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much do RAs get paid?

It ranges widely. Notre Dame values its package at $18,438 in room and board, Northwestern pays a $9,500 room stipend plus $1,500 in cash, and LSU pays $2,000 to $2,500 a semester on top of a covered room. Ask for the total value in writing, split into housing, meals and cash.

Is RA compensation taxable?

It depends on the form. A room you're required to live in as a condition of the job is generally not taxed, which is why Notre Dame states its benefit is tax free. A cash stipend usually is taxed, which is why Northwestern describes both of its payments as taxable.

Will being an RA reduce my financial aid?

It can. Duke counts the room value and stipend as a resource that first replaces loans and work-study, then reduces grant aid if it exceeds them. Ask your financial aid office to model your offer both ways before you accept.

How many hours a week is it?

Western Michigan estimates roughly 20 hours, which includes a weekly overnight duty shift, a monthly duty weekend, a three hour desk shift, a two hour staff meeting and a supervisor one-on-one.

Can you be an RA as a freshman?

Usually not. LSU requires two semesters of enrollment before the position starts and Western Michigan asks for 16 credits plus two semesters in on-campus housing, so most students apply during their first year and start in their second.

Can I keep my other job?

Only a small one, at most schools. Western Michigan caps additional on-campus employment at five hours a week and bars outside employment entirely for international students. Check the cap before you assume you can stack the two.

What happens if I quit partway through the year?

You generally lose the housing with the job, because the room is the compensation. LSU's agreement also allows immediate dismissal at the department's sole discretion, so read the exit terms before you sign.