Total compensation for Peer Academic Advisors (PAAs) for the coming academic year has been cut almost a third, from $1,644.75 to $1,117.92. PAAs are upperclass students who provide academic advising to groups of first-year students through the residential college system.
While PAA hourly pay will increase from $21.50 to $21.92, the estimated hours of work throughout the year will be reduced from 76.5 to 51, resulting in a lower overall compensation.
Notably, summer advising hours will be cut from 10 to two. The PAA information sheet states that “PAAs serve an important role assisting with the academic transition of entering students” over the summer.
The move comes amid sweeping fiscal tightening announced by University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 in his State of the University letter. To offset lower endowment return predictions, Eisgruber warned of budget cuts that would “affect everyone on campus.”
PAAs were unpaid until the fall of 2020, when the Office of the Dean of the College (ODOC) began offering a $960 stipend for the role.
Katherine Monroe ’27, a PAA in Forbes College, told The Daily Princetonian in an interview that she plans to be a PAA again next year, despite reduced working hours. “I’m not sure if that would be the case for everyone, especially students who rely on it as a source of supplemental income and might have to consider taking on another job,” she said.
“I would say summer [had] some of the most meaningful advising hours … because during that time, I was able to really see the zees, get their initial impressions of Princeton,” Giselle Sonnier ’27, a PAA in Rockefeller College, told the ‘Prince,’ taking issue with the summer hour cuts. “[It] also allowed me to know how I would need to adjust my advising and my mentorship.”
Olufemi Obielodan ’27, a PAA for Forbes College, emphasized that PAAs can be a more accessible source of academic advising within the residential college framework: “Because they are students, they are more directly connected to the student population, so they more easily [answer] very specific questions with their own personal experience.”
The new PAA calendar also includes a decrease from 20 to 16 working hours during the fall orientation as well as an hour and a half of work per week for the remainder of the semester, down from two last year.
In contrast with some of his peers, Akash Bhowmick ’27, a PAA in Rocky College, thought the new expectations for the position were reasonable.
“The hours are much more reflective of the actual amount of work we need to put in as PAAs, and the rate is a good bump, so it’s honestly a net positive. And I’m happy that they made this change instead of removing the PAA role,” he told the ‘Prince.’
Sonnier, on the other hand, was concerned that she would have to work overtime to fulfill her duties in light of PAA hour reductions.
“I feel like in my role already, there probably are unpaid hours, [like] when I am meeting with a zee one-on-one … There are definitely weeks where I am spending more hours as a PAA than others, depending on what the academic importance is of that week,” she said.
Despite the new policy, PAAs are still expected to “foster academic community in the residential colleges” and “serve as academic mentors for first-year students throughout the academic year,” according to the PAA information sheet.
Aside from their main objectives, many PAAs provide support to first-years in other ways. Monroe said that being a PAA “is about being a friendly face and a mentor, kind of in any situation, whether that’s academic, social, or otherwise.”
Ryan Buschman is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Haddonfield, N.J. and can be reached at rb8146[at]princeton.edu.
Ambre Van de Velde is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’ She is from Boston and can be reached at av8447[at]princeton.edu.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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