elegantlion Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 This the part of the semester where I question my sanity, my plans, my life, etc. :coolgleamA: I'd really like to attend grad school and my advisor is guiding me in that direction. I'm not sure I want to teach. I'm also not sure if I want to spend the time and effort for earn my PhD. With a Master's I could get some adjunct work, probably. My masters would be in some area of Medieval British history. I'm not sure where it's all headed career wise anyway. I'm hoping to have enough money to live a minimal lifestyle and travel from time to time. I'm single and by that time ds will be off on his own. So what is good and bad about adjunct teaching? I know the money isn't great, so I'd probably have to have another income stream. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 I became an adjunct because I had a baby and had just been laid off from my high-pressure government job. It seemed like a family-friendly way to keep my hand in the pot and earn a little money. Now the baby is in college, and I'm still doing it. Most of my income is from contract teaching, but I enjoy being an adjunct too. I'm considered an "as-needed, part-time employee," so no self-employment tax or tracking of expenses. In my state, you're eligible for health insurance and the retirement savings plan after four consecutive semesters. I know quite a few retirees and folks who are self employed mostly who do it for the health insurance. However with ACA, they now also restrict you across all state institutions for 12 credit hours per semester. Professional development funds used to be better, and I knew some adjuncts who used that to partially pay for further graduate school. Now they pretty much only pay for in-house or courses being taught by them, but you can take anything, no restrictions of subjects. I'm switching to just online in January because I'm unhappy with the local one that I was also doing face-to-face for. Frankly they take us for granted, and I'm very unhappy with the dean I work for on multiple fronts. If she moved on, I might reconsider, but I'd also like my evenings free. I'm getting older and am more tired by the time 7pm hits. Community college teaching can be tough because the hard reality is that you only get a handful of students in each class who want to learn. I always try to focus on the serious students and not let the rest get me down. Getting in and staying in may be another matter. I have several friends who have been trying for years, and they haven't been able to even get an interview. The online college I work for actually qualifies you, and then puts you on a wait list for classes you qualify for. I waited two years on the wait list while I did some contract course development and short-course teaching for them. Then they hired me, got me all set up, and then put me back on the wait list when they had an enrollment downturn. I went back to bits-and-pieces for them and kept in touch with the deans who were interested in me. Then they hired me again for October, and actually ended up bringing me on in September when they had an enrollment surge. My dean is 95% sure I'll get a contract for January or March, but the current sections on the schedule have to fill first. That's typical too. Adjuncts may have to wait to see how enrollment is, and you can be bumped by a more senior adjunct or a full-time professor. So it can be uncertain even if you get on. Some people don't like that, but I have other work too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 At least around here, there's such a surplus of PhDs that even though the minimum requirement for an adjuct is a Masters, most newly hired adjuncts at the CC have a PhD, so I'd look to see if it is really feasible to find such a position with just a Masters. Honestly, with a Masters, teaching high school is likely to pay much, much better, have better job security and better benefits. And, if you can manage to teach honors sections at high school, more of your students are likely to be motivated learners. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fdrinca Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 At least around here, there's such a surplus of PhDs that even though the minimum requirement for an adjuct is a Masters, most newly hired adjuncts at the CC have a PhD, so I'd look to see if it is really feasible to find such a position with just a Masters. Honestly, with a Masters, teaching high school is likely to pay much, much better, have better job security and better benefits. And, if you can manage to teach honors sections at high school, more of your students are likely to be motivated learners. I was going comment similarly - be very certain that a MA could adjuct in your field. Even if a MA is the minimum qualification, if there are enough PhDs in the field, you'll be crowded out. My SIL has a great adjuct job in at a midsize private college in a semi-rural area. Two grad school classmates spent several years hustling together positions while in big cities. The experience varies wildly, depending on the school that hires you. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 Another thing to consider is whether being an adjunct would allow you to travel. I have a friend who was a senior adjunct at a community college. She moved across the state to become a full time instructor. It seemed like a good idea at the time -- guaranteed classes! Benefits! Living hours closer to extended family! ... but it just did not work out. Now she's back in the area adjuncting again... but she's lost all her seniority in the community college system, and has lower priority for scheduling and no predictablity. She's scrambling for tutoring jobs and ways to make ends meet when classes don't fill last minute. It's been very hard on her and her son. Being an adjunct can be hard, but being a senior adjunct is a little less hard. If you take time off to travel, will you be able to build up seniority? +1 on fdrinca's advice that location will matter: This person's new school was in a rural area and paid relatively well because the "locals" weren't much competition for jobs. But, the local area was just too limiting in terms of other opportunities and culture and they had to move back to the city, where being an adjuct is more of a scramble because there are more well-educated people. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 For me, it gave me a way to teach part-time. However, when I chose to stop taking a contract because homeschooling a 6yr old didn't work well with teaching, I went to the bottom of the heap, and for the last three semesters, have had classes offered that didn't form. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 Most of my income is from contract teaching, but I enjoy being an adjunct too. Would you please explain the difference between contract teaching and adjunct? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted November 3, 2015 Author Share Posted November 3, 2015 Thanks, all. The adjuncts for my major at my school all hold MAs. It's definitely a conversation I'd have with my advisor (also my mentor) before grad school. As far as the travel, it would only be when not teaching, not during an active semester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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