A campus service group has yet to see a dime after being promised payment in August, but directors said students should receive a paycheck as soon as next week.
The Campus Tour Ambassadors, which is comprised of students who are responsible for giving university tours to potential students, were promised a salary but have not received any paychecks.
Paul Kohn, director of administration, said the ambassadors can expect to receive money by next week.
"I'm the director, and it's my responsibility to get this resolved," Kohn said. "I have everybody I can think of working on it. We take it somewhere higher if it doesn't get resolved in the next couple of days."
He said he went to the UA President's Office and Senior Accountant's Office, who said the problem should be solved by next week.
"I'm counting on it," Kohn said.
Kohn, who took over the position in November, said he was unaware until recently that ambassadors were scheduled to change from volunteers to paid employees because he was not present when the decision was made.
Keith Humphrey, senior assistant director of admissions, and Jennifer Leung, program development specialist, have been in office for a longer time than Kohn and work closely with the ambassadors. However, they have not been given permission to release information about the situation, Humphrey said.
In a story published in the Arizona Daily Wildcat on Sept. 22, Humphrey said:
"Admissions is a very competitive environment. We want the information given out on the tour to be information that the University of Arizona can be held accountable for. The best way to do that is to have paid employees for the tour rather than volunteers."
The payments could have been delayed because of changes in the admissions staff, including the accountant leaving the office, Kohn said.
"I suspect that this has something to do with it but really can't say. I have asked the accountants to investigate, and I will know in the next days," Kohn said.
In the past, ambassadors have never been paid. There were even some people who said it would be inappropriate to pay them because they could lose the spirit that drives them to do the job, Kohn said.
The Admissions Office would be responsible for paying the ambassadors. Each college has ambassadors who continue to do volunteer work, he said.
However Kohn said he cannot imagine why ambassadors would complain about this fact because he does not think they do it for the money.
"I think if it was all about money students could find better positions like doing things with computers or waitressing," Kohn said.
Jon Jensen, a secondary education junior and ambassador, said they were not promised payment by a specific date. Instead, Jensen said the ambassadors received an e-mail around Christmastime informing them that payment is in progress.
"I'm presently not upset about it because it's not money that I depend on. It's not a lot of money because this isn't a full-time job," Jensen said. "When I applied, I thought I was going to volunteer."
The main difference he expects from a paycheck is a higher accountability of the ambassadors and higher expectations from their bosses.
"We're not a volunteer club anymore," Jensen said.
Kohn assumed ambassadors work for the spirit and the fun of doing their job. The university provides leadership training and gives students a chance to work in the field.
"We're giving them a leadership opportunity," he said.
Kohn said the ambassador program will be assessed in the spring, when the administration will evaluate the ambassadors' payment, performance and recruiting methods.
Although he does not plan on eliminating payment, he does want to find out if the incentive has any effects on the program, Kohn said.
"We want to make sure that we keep a really energetic, enthusiastic, diverse bunch of ambassadors," Kohn said.
Jessica Wertz, a family studies and human development sophomore and ambassador, said they expected payment by Christmas.
Wertz said they were notified before the holiday that paperwork still needed to be processed, which would delay payment.
"But a lot of us were counting on it for Christmas gifts," she said.
However, Wertz said she doesn't do the job for money but to give back to the school, which makes her feel at home.
"The UA means so much for me," Wertz said.