As you’ll read below, this problem isn’t limited to Kansas University. Many grad students around the country could face new hardships under Obamacare.

Ben Unglesbee of the Lawrence Journal World reports.

Discussions on limiting KU grad student work hours prompts alarm

Kansas University graduate students are sounding alarms over a proposal within the university that could cut back how many hours they can work on campus.

The university has said the possibility has been brought up as part of ongoing, and still early, discussions within university administration about how to adapt to health care reform.

The students are worried specifically about an email that surfaced with what appears to be a proposed policy to limit the total number of hours students can work on campus to 20 hours per week, down from the current cutoff for many students of 30.

For some, that would represent a sizable hit to their incomes, already low for many graduate teaching and research assistants. To convince administration to keep the current rules intact, some graduate students have drawn up petitions and started a campus-wide campaign…

KU Provost Jeffrey Vitter declined an interview request on the subject. KU spokesman Gavin Young said KU administration and human resources have been discussing how KU will respond to the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate to provide health insurance for all employees working 30 hours a week or more…

KU is not alone among universities trying to figure out how to adapt to health care reform. According to the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, the federal government has not specifically addressed how graduate teaching and research assistants fit into the law.

The University of Alabama has already moved to limit graduate assistant hours to 20 per week to avoid paying for insurance under the health care law — a fact that has fueled concern at KU.