Following the General Assembly’s adoption of the state of South Carolina’s Fiscal Year 2023-24 General Appropriation Act, Clemson will provide a general increase (i.e., cost-of-living adjustment or COLA) to eligible classified and unclassified staff and faculty. Eligible faculty may also be eligible to receive a merit-informed increase.
For Staff
A cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of $2,500* will be given to eligible classified and unclassified staff making $50,000 and under. Eligible staff earning more than $50,000 per year will receive a COLA of 5%.
*Note: Eligible part-time employees in FTE, TLP, and TGP positions who earn an annualized salary of more than $50,000 will receive a 5% increase. Eligible part-time employees in FTE, TLP, and TGP positions whose annualized salary is less than $50,000 will receive a prorated amount of the increase. For example, an eligible employee that is a 0.5 FTE will receive $1,250 – 0.5 or half of the total increase.
The increase will be reflected beginning with the July 14 paycheck for eligible staff members.
Who is eligible for a staff general increase (COLA)?
Classified and unclassified staff positions, with an effective date of hire, or an official first day of employment, on or before June 15, 2023, including:
- Full Time Equivalent (FTE) positions
- Time-Limited Positions (TLP) who have standard hours of 30 or more hours, contract permitting
- Temporary Grant Positions (TGP) who have standard hours of 30 or more hours, grant permitting
Who is not eligible for a general increase (COLA)?
- Employees hired after June 15, or whose last day of employment was on or before June 16, 2023
- Employees in Temporary Positions (TMP)
- Student-workers (graduate and undergraduate)
- Employees paid by lump sum only, without a set hourly rate/annual salary (formerly referred to as Intermittent)
- Any employment category that is explicitly excluded from the state guidance (i.e., agency head)
- Judicial employees
- Employees with employment contracts
For Faculty
The University’s FY23-24 Merit Plan represents a foundational component of the University’s compensation philosophy: recognizing and rewarding individual performance (merit) based on measured results.
There will be a 5% salary increase pool for faculty of which eligible faculty will receive a COLA of 2% and the remainder of the salary pool will be used for merit-informed increases. The budgeted merit pool is comprised of 3% of faculty salaries, but individual merit-informed increases may be more or less than 3%.
Eligible faculty will receive their COLA increase when merit-informed increases and promotions are processed by the September 29 paycheck. COLA and merit-informed increases will be processed retroactively back to June 16, 2023, for 12-month employees and to August 15, 2023, for 9-month employees.
Important Note: Faculty members promoted through the annual tenure and promotion process with an effective increase date of July 1 or August 15 will receive their increase in the September 29 paycheck. Per state regulations, when general increases (including merit) and other salary increases (promotions, etc.) are awarded on the same effective date, the general increase will be applied prior to any other salary increases.
Who is eligible for a COLA and merit-informed increase?
Faculty with an effective date of hire, or an official first day of employment, on or before June 15, 2023, in:
- Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) positions who have standard hours of 30 hours or more
- Time-Limited Positions (TLP) who have standard hours of 30 hours or more (contract permitting)
- Temporary Grant Positions (TGP) who have standard hours of 30 hours or more (grant permitting)
Who is not eligible for a COLA and merit-informed increase?
- Classified and unclassified staff members (eligible staff refer to section above)
- Faculty with standard hours of less than 30 hours
- Faculty members in temporary positions (TMP), regardless of standard hours
Assistance
For more information, please reference the Frequently Asked Questions webpage or ASK-HR.