BOZEMAN — Montana State University runs on a large network of student employees. A great way for the average student to pay their way through college. But what if I told you these student employees are angry, after recently learning their end-of-semester bonuses were taken away?

“I was texted by my friend on Friday and was like, you’re never gonna believe this,” Natalie Lanasa tells me.

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Majoring in animal science, Natalie has studied on the Montana State campus for two years. But before she even stepped foot in a classroom?

“I’ve been working at the dining hall since August of 2023. Before classes even started off my freshman year,” says Natalie.

Natalie, who works as a student employee to help pay tuition, tells me all culinary services student employees receive end-of-semester bonuses.

“It’s been a thing since I was hired. And I know it’s been a thing since some of my friends who have been at the school longer were hired,” says Natalie.

This bonus is based off a sliding scale premise, to encourage the employees to work more hours. The more hours you work? The bigger your end-of-semester bonus will be.

“A lot of us put in a lot of extra hours to make that bonus. We would always make the joke of, 'Guess I’m staying late tonight. Need that bonus,'” Natalie explains.

For Natalie, that bonus would have given her $500 to put towards summer classes. But last Friday, a week before the semester ends? Rumors arose that this bonus wasn’t coming.

“For it to be just taken away at the end of the semester when we’ve all worked into it for the entirety of the semester? It’s really unfortunate and frustrating,” says Natalie.

Natalie tells me there’s been a lot of miscommunication. The student employees have been left in the dark. So, I went to the University to try to get some answers.

“There was a miscommunication. Back over winter break, there were some discussions among the culinary services management about the bonuses,” says MSU spokesperson Michael Becker.

Becker tells me these bonuses originated during staffing shortages, to bring students in to work for culinary services. But this semester? Their employment has stabilized.

“What had been decided was to discontinue the bonus program for spring semester,” says Becker.

This information, decided back in December, was never properly relayed to the student employees. Which is why outrage was the reaction when they found out last Friday.

“We understand that there has been confusion because of the miscommunication. And the university apologizes to the student workers for the miscommunication. It was certainly not intentional,” says Becker.

Becker tells me culinary services have been working over the last few days. The decision has been made to reinstate the bonuses for this semester. Whether or not they will follow in future semesters is still under consideration. As for Natalie, her only request for the future?

“You know what, if you want to do away with it in future semesters, that is more than OK. You just have to tell us. That's all we wanted. We just wanted to be notified,” says Natalie.