What's It Like Not At BYU?

[krebscout]

Out of Sauron's cohort for his Master's and now for his PhD, none of them are married or in any rush to get married (though several have committed relationships), and only one other one has a kid. That's not like BYU. But it does make it nice, socially. We just have them over after our kids are asleep, and nobody has to find a babysitter.

Also, in my experience with them, everybody seems to be very tolerant of the points of views and lifestyles of others. Which was not always my personal experience at BYU. It's nice that nobody cares that we're Mormon.

[Portia]

I feel like class can influence behavior, dress, and lifestyle as much as religion. When I lived in the Northwest, I worked at a low-level museum job, and my then-boyfriend was in a white-collar professional job. My cohort were, by and large, hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, unattached, and made fun of my (relative) squareness. His compatriots were largely married, of good vocabulary, living in the 'burbs, and you'd even see plenty of women pass on drinks as several were pregnant (they were late twenties, mostly). Me, him, and a hot German guy were the only unmarried ones at one of their work functions. And we were the Mormons!

When I moved back to Utah, I briefly worked with people who dropped curse words like they were on the set of a Tarantino film. There was a lot of outright hostility to anyone who didn't speak, dress, and act as they did. Lots of tattoos, DUIs, even one guy I got a call from a department of the Utah government because he was behind on his child support. I know that some of these folks were nominal Mormons. Whereas very few in my current social circle may be married now, but they definitely are bourgeois, liberal, dress well, childless, and I think fairly open to different belief systems (most are Mormon, it being Provo). The mere fact of being in college seems to make a HUGE difference in their conduct and worldview, I guess?

I just thought it was interesting how the Northwest agnostic married couple were closer to the "ideal" BYU graduate than I might have expected.

[Talons]

BYU has amazing professors and beautiful grounds. It's more diverse here, but that might just be the graduate program in microbiology. I'll think of more later.

[Rifka]

Katya, I noticed the same thing about student workers. Is BYU saving money by hiring students? Are adult workers more likely to stay long term in a job, since students have higher turnover? I can see reasons for both having student workers and non-student workers, but I took it for granted that most staff jobs at a university would be filled by students.

It could just be my perception, but I was under the impression that BYU has so many student jobs in order to help students find the employment they need to afford their education (hence the reason I was kicked out of my awesome library job once I graduated-- boo!) I'm know the recession led to a lot more jobs being eliminated or given to students for financial reasons, too (and I wouldn't be surprised if Obamacare results in more student jobs and less staff jobs, too).

[Marduk]

I don't see why Obamacare would have any effect. BYU already offers health insurance to all full time employees.

[bobtheenchantedone]

Also, they got rid of student jobs before they got rid of full-timers - my dad was working strict shifts (though never a minute of overtime!) due to fewer student helpers until the day they let him go.

[Katya]

I don't see why Obamacare would have any effect. BYU already offers health insurance to all full time employees.

It wouldn't affect full-time employees, and it wouldn't affect part-time employees who don't ever work more than 30 hours a week, but employees who average 30 hours during any month are supposed to get health insurance, under the new law. BYU has already told part-time employees who work less than 30 hours that they need to stay under that limit every month. (I guess they used to be more flexible about letting people take vacation and then work longer days to make up hours.)

I'm not at all convinced that BYU would take one 3/4 employee position and make a straight-across trade for, say, 3 10-hour student positions, if only because there's more turnover, less consistency, and more hiring and training time to invest with student workers. Plus, if the student jobs are work-study positions, they're at least partially dependent on federal funds and student eligibility, which is beyond BYU's control. However, I suppose it's possible that there might be some shuffling done with open positions being eliminated or redefined, going forward.

[thatonemom]

There are actually a lot of 3/4 employees for BYU, depending on the department. The way that it used to be is that they could work a max of 1560 hours a year (30 hours x 52 weeks a year). And as long as people didn't work over 40 hours in any particular week, there was a lot of flexibility. 3/4 employees also don't get paid sick/vacation/holidays, so that cuts down on their hours. But a lot of them work for parts of BYU that are more seasonal (for lack of a better word). Think Continuing Education (EFY, sports/dance camps), the MTC, LDS Philanthropies, even 3/4 time faculty. So they often put in lots of work over a couple of intense months, and then go back to about 30 hours in less busy times. They don't usually go over 1560 for the year because of the holidays/taking time off. (My husband was 3/4 for BYU for years, and there was never any danger of going over 1560)

Anyway, blah blah blah, here's the point. The law looks at the average amount an employee works *over a period of months* And if you're 3/4 time, you have to average less than 30 hours for that whole period. Some people are at/above the 30 hour average, and so they will have to cut their hours to bring their average down. I don't know that BYU will phase out 3/4 positions (for the reasons Katya mentions), but they'll be run differently than they have been.

[Katya]

(My husband was 3/4 for BYU for years, and there was never any danger of going over 1560.)

Did you have health insurance?

[thatonemom]

We did. I was working full-time so I had benefits. When I stopped working we bought private insurance. It's pretty pricey, though (especially if you want to have a baby. Our maternity deductible was $7500) It was an expensive time in our lives. My husband's been full-time for a while but we are grateful for good health insurance regularly.

[Portia]

(especially if you want to have a baby. Our maternity deductible was $7500)

Boo America. I honestly think I would only have a kid in France.