UGA Raises

My local paper says today that UGA faculty and staff will receive a 5 percent raise.  Two percent will come from the state, 3 percent from a tuition hike.

UGA President Jere Morehead said on Wednesday that he plans to boost pay by 5 percent next fiscal year, but admitted the salary hike won’t increase faculty pay to a competitive level with comparable institutions of higher learning.

So let's all celebrate.

Except ... hold on.

The story doesn't get into this in any detail, but this is a merit raise. Here's how the math works. A unit's total salary budget will be multiplied by 5 percent to create a "raise pool" for that unit. And then, based on merit, raises will be allocated. You could end up with a 2 percent raise, maybe, or a 10 percent raise. 

Or, look at this previous fiscal year UGA document. As it notes on a 4 percent raise:

Individual salary increases must align with documented performance performance evaluations and range from zero (0%) percent to eight (8%) percent.

So far I haven't found this fiscal year's document, but I do know administrators are hard at work on my 25 percent raise (meaning my fellow department members will just have to go without, sorry).