Vermont’s high costs of living lead many employees to make long commutes to work, often from New York State. Only 39.5% of staff members live within the town of Middlebury, according to data the college Human Resources department sent to The Campus. The same data highlights that 21.7% of staff live further than 15 miles from campus.
Jeremy Keach, a supervisor at Atwater Dining Hall, has faced the challenges posed by traveling daily across state lines. He began working for Middlebury College in October 2023, and currently lives in the town of Port Henry, N.Y., alongside the New York border with Vermont. He typically reaches the college in thirty minutes, but his commute times increase if he faces inclement weather such as snow on the drive.
Living in the Middlebury area is not an option for him, despite holding a supervisory position.
“Even making the money that Middlebury pays, Middlebury itself and just Vermont is ridiculous,” Keach said. He hopes to soon purchase his dream home, which would most likely be located in New York.
Keach enjoys his work at Middlebury, noting, “The culture here is way better than at a normal restaurant. Even though we are twice as busy, there is no animosity, everyone works together, and it’s really fun.”
Keach is not the only Middlebury staff member who faces the issue of not being able to find affordable housing in Vermont. John Rao, a support services technician, also calls New York home. He has been working for Middlebury for four years, and highlighted the benefits that a Middlebury employee receives. After years of being a farmer, he likes the stability of a salaried, fair-paid job.
Rao’s commute to work is forty-five minutes to an hour from his residence in New York, where he owns sixty-five acres of property and likes to spend his time outside.
“I was looking for a place, and in Vermont, you can afford the house, but then you can’t afford the taxes. So then, we decided to look in New York and it was a little bittersweet because I had been in Vermont my whole life,” Rao said.
Not everybody who commutes to and from New York has a similar experience, however. Dan Detora, executive director of food service operations, rents a room on the outskirts of Middlebury in order to mitigate his commute.
Detora has worked for the college for almost ten years and lives near Saratoga Springs, N.Y., about a two hour drive away, with his wife. He too has felt the impact of rising housing expenses, although his situation differs from that of employees in roles with lower rates of compensation.
“When I first arrived, I lived in a one-bedroom apartment, but it became too expensive, so I had to move into my current location which is basically a bedroom and bathroom in a house with others,” Detora said.
Detora believes that Middlebury College offers competitive pay, especially after changing its compensation structure.
The results of a 2022 Middlebury-commissioned Mercer study indicated that the college was undercompensating staff in comparison to other liberal arts colleges. Since the implementation of the skill matrix compensation system in July 2022, the college has benchmarked employees’ wages to pay at a group of peer institutions, which include Roger Williams University and Suffolk University..
The college commissions the Mercer consulting firm every few years to survey wages and salaries across all departments. Middlebury College defines “competitive wages'' as within 15% of the market median.
After undergoing these structural changes, and raising the minimum wage at the college to $17.60 per hour, compensation at Middlebury has become more competitive. Given the MIT Living Wage Calculator’s metric that a livable wage for a single adult with no children is $23.33 per hour, compensation still fails to cover the cost of living in Addison County for many.
Detora is hopeful that the affordable housing construction going up in Middlebury will help to relieve this issue, as many of the dining hall staff cannot currently afford housing in the area.
“I think this will be a huge win for the college and the town. Dining has a lot of folks that currently cannot afford housing and hopefully, this will help retain those employees,” said Detora.
