President Barack Obama urged Congress members, during his annual State of the Union Address, that Congress has to take action by passing legislation and raising the federal minimum wage up to $10.10.

Angelina Paris, anthropology major, thinks that the raise in the federal minimum wage is a positive thing,”To raise the minimum wage; of course it is a good idea, especially the way expenses are and the cost of living.”

Lauren Didio, anthropology major, shared the same sentiment.

“Honestly, that doesn’t seem too bad to me. I’m actually (applying) for a job on campus, and I was hearing that I would be making a little under $10.

“To be honest, that’s kind of disappointing, so to be able to make more than that actually sounds good,” she said.

Paris disagreed with many people who said that the raising the minimum wage wouldn’t make a difference.

“No, as far as i am concerned prices of food are already going up, so why not keep up with expenses we have with minimum wage,” Paris said.

The current minimum wage for federal workers is $7.25, as of July 2009.

Even 77 economists backed up this new minimum wage increase, as well as Nobel laureates. In their report they concluded that $10.10 would grow the U.S. economy by about $22 billion and create 85,000 new jobs.

Still some people disagree with the minimum wage hike, including psychology major Burnice Figueroa.

“I think it’s not going to matter, it might go up, but then food, rent and everything else is going to go up as well, so it’s just going to stay the same. There is not going to be a big difference.”

Even if the lawmakers didn’t take up this idea, Obama has promised to use his executive powers to enforce a minimum wage increase.