Death of an Adjunct

[Kathryn]

This is so sad: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/perspectives/death-of-an-adjunct-703773/

[TammyinTN]

This breaks my heart. 

[Renee in NC]

It is very sad.  I have a friend who is trying to take care of her 3 children on what she makes as an adjunct.  She is WELL under the poverty level, but hopes to become a FT professor someday.

[Dmmetler]

I believe it. I was an adjunct for five years, never teaching more than 3 classes a semester. It worked well for me as a young mother who mostly wanted to be at home with her child, and who was willing to teach those unpopular 3 hour night and weekend classes during the hours DH could be home, but I don't know that I ever made a profit.

 

I had qualms about homeschooling because I'd been told for years that when I was available full-time, they'd give me more classes and I'd move into a tenure track path. That was one reason why we put DD in K. Didn't matter-I actually had fewer classes that year than the year before. The following fall, I pulled her to homeschool, juggling the schedule to make it work, and a semester into homeschooling, they cut back the department, mostly letting go assistant professors who didn't have tenure yet-and told the adjunct that we'd get more classes. I chose to not renew my contract.

 

I cannot imagine living on an adjunct salary, even if you're teaching 12-15 credit hours, for any length of time. The only reason I could do it was that DH is a senior software engineer with an industry salary, rather than an academic one.

 

There's a lot said about places like Wal-Mart and McDonalds keeping hours to the level that they can avoid paying benefits, but I don't think anyone realizes just how much universities benefit from grad students and adjunct professors working for peanuts. There is something inherently wrong with teaching a full load at a school that gets over 20K/yr per student and being eligible for food stamps.

 

[Night Elf]

That's sad. I had no idea that there was a level of college professors who didn't make great salaries. Well, i knew tenured professors profited more highly than non-tenured, but I didn't know anything about adjunct professors.

[Lakeside]

:crying: How sad.  Thank you for sharing the article.  It was enlightening. 

[mom2scouts]

I live in a University community and dh used to work at the University (until they decided, after 10 years, that they could save money by outsourcing his job).  Tenured professors have it made, but the adjunct faculty are treated like cr*p.  They often aren't even given their schedules until the last minute and are given the classes that nobody else wants.  The universities often call for donations, but they never seem to have trouble finding an extra $60,0000 lying around for the university president's yearly bonus.

[Violet Crown]

Tenured professors don't necessarily have it made. We scraped by during dh's first few years with tenure, but still qualified (thankfully) for some free (but necessary) assistance. I've had people tell me with a straight face that of course I can homeschool, because we're wealthy: dh surely makes $150K-200K a year, because that's what their professor friend makes. Sure, if professor-friend is in Petroleum Engineering.

 

There used to be some comfort in the job security, until universities discovered they could rid themselves of even tenured faculty by abolishing entire departments (SUNY Albany eliminated classics, Russian, Italian, and theater; UVa's Board of Visitors reportedly forced Pres. Teresa Sullivan's resignation in part because she opposed eliminating the classics and German departments); and tenured faculty at public universities get furloughed just like other state employees when it's belt-tightening time.

[Violet Crown]

And of course the untold story in all this is that grad programs for many years have been over-producing Ph.D.s with no real prospects of remunerative employment.

[texasmama]

That is very, very sad.

 

When I was an adjunct off and on for ten years, the pay started out at $2500 per course per semester and was $3000 per course per semester when I last taught two years ago.  No benefits, though twelve years ago when I started out, if an adjunct taught two classes per semester, he/she was eligible for health insurance.  Two classes per semester were not guaranteed, though, so one could lose health insurance if only one class was available.

[G5052]

Yes, all very true.  This January it will be 15 years for me as an adjunct.  I'm eligible for health insurance, but don't need it at this point.

 

The pay is OK if you want a family-friendly part-time job and don't commute far.  After this long, my prep time isn't bad.  We have new texts and some new aspects to the class, but I did 90% of my work for that over the summer.  It is rotten though if you have to support yourself that way and have to drive any distance.  My college dropped my specialty as a major, and so I only teach the course that everyone has to take. 

 

And the state now says because of Obamacare that I can't teach more than 10 credit hours a semester, across the whole state system.  So no more patchworks of adjunct jobs across multiple colleges.  I currently do face-to-face or hybrid locally, but may cut back to one section at that college and add two online with another to keep under the limit.

 

Frankly I do better with other contract work.  I'm doing more of that than my college teaching of late, and my chances of ever becoming a full-time faculty member are nil anyway.  Oh, and the adjuncts haven't had a raise in probably 7-8 years or so.  That too.

 

 

[OH_Homeschooler]

When I was in grad school, many of my fellow students worked as adjuncts for local community colleges to supplement their small stipends. I can't imagine anyone trying to make a real living off of teaching adjunct courses!

 

And I agree that not all professors make a lot of money. It really is based on the field--as someone mentioned, an engineering professor is going to make a lot more than an English professor, because what else would draw an engineer to teach when s/he could make so much more money out in the field? And even then, it's my understanding that an engineering professor is going to make less than an engineer. 

[Orthodox6]

My husband (Ph.D. in economics) has taught as an adjunct, on top of his "day job".  The pay is abysmal.  (The subject of the linked article -- and I wanted to cry over her sufferings -- earned nearly twice what DH has received teaching in graduate schools of business.  The amount of time required to develop course materials, teach, and grade, diminishes the hourly rate to something approaching minimum wage (or less).  I cannot imagine eking out a less-than-subsistance income as an adjunct -- only to be kicked to the curb as this woman was. 

 

Tenure is fast disappearing.  Adjunct faculty are not "the faculty of the future"; they are the faculty new-hires of today.  Whenever I hear a young person express a plan to teach at a university, I badly want to steer him or her toward reality. 

[Frances]

Tenured professors don't necessarily have it made. 

 

As a tenure-track professor at a well respected LAC, after many years my husband was making about $50K in a position that required a PhD and a two-year post-doc. He tripled his pay and halved his hours when he switched to being a pharmacist. He actually makes pretty good money now as an adjunct professor during the summer. The health system where he works allows him to flex his hours and he teaches just for fun.

[Kareni]

Thank you for sharing the article, Kathryn.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[PrincessMommy]

Thank you for this article.  Very enlightening. 

[DragonFaerie]

This is making me so sad.  I am working on my masters degree now with the intention of teaching online classes as an adjunct when I finish.  I don't know what else to do, though.  I want to be able to work from home.

[readinmom]

This makes me so sad.