Today, making the round of the intertubes, is another article--this one from WBUR (NPR station in Boston). Article is dated March 15, 2012.
Adjunct Professor Uses Crowdsourcing
To Draw Attention To Working ConditionsAdjunct professors don’t have tenure, and they often don’t have the benefits, salary, prestige or training of full time professors. But adjuncts now make up more than half of all college faculty across the country.
Their pay is often pitiful. As one recent blog put it: “Your kid’s college professor might be on Medicaid.”Now some adjunct are wondering, should they organize.
Joshua Boldt is a freshman composition instructor at the University of Georgia and he was recently inspired to create a public Google document, where adjunct professors can list their pay and benefits.
He was only expecting several dozen responses, but he got more than 1,500.
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Read on for the rest of the article. And the comment section--the first one is a whopper.
I don't see what the problem is. The average from the google doc is about $4000 per 3 credit hour class. 18 weeks per semester means that's $222 a week. If you assume 3 hours of lecturing a week, 5 hours of grading, and 2 hours of office hours, that's $22 an hour.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty damn good. I'm making $10 an hour as a TA and as an engineer I'm going to be making ~$32 an hour. $22 seems plenty fair.
I don't see where your math skills are.
DeleteTwo 18-week semesters means you are only working 36 weeks a year!
I'm pretty confident no adjunct is being paid 16 weeks of vacation.
So, assuming the $4,000/class -- which is a big assumption as there were just as many ~$1,800/class entries too -- and assuming you get a 2/2 load (another big assumption), that is four classes per YEAR - $16,000.
Oh, and you forgot TAXES ... and no HEALTH INSURANCE ... or PENSION.
So, yes, on paper, during the school year, using your high end example, it APPEARS an adjunct might make a reasonable wage.
Oh wait, $22/hr seems plenty fair where you expect to make $32/hr as an engineer?
That's $22/hr for someone with a PhD ... about 10 years of education.
An engineer can start with a BS. And will work 40 hrs/wk so $32/hr ends up being $64,000. Yup, pretty nice.
Except the adjunct PhD is actually only making $16,000 a year!
Plenty fair?
Are you freaking serious?
$22 per hour is very far from "pretty damn good" for someone with a PhD level education. That's the sort of money a kid fresh out of college with a BS will be making. Worse, by mid-career, most will be substantially out earning the adjunct.
DeleteYou're "going" to be making $32/hr .... when? When you get a job? Well, the fact that you haven't yet started this job speaks volumes. You don't yet understand the cost of living, which includes health insurance, rent, transportation .... Depending on what part of the country you live in (and the amount of money you borrowed for your degree), your $32/hr might not even get you that far. It's certainly not the windfall you're probably expecting. If you're living in bumfuck, then congratulations (I guess?), you will probably do well. If you're living anywhere interesting, then you might want to hold off on buying that new car.
DeleteNot to mention the fact that a three credit-hour class is not a 10-hour commitment but more like 15 or 20. Therefore, an adjunct teaching three classes (or working 45-60 hours a week) is only making $12,000/semester--minus health insurance and pension. $12,000 for half the year, with no benefits, for someone working 45-60 hours a week.
Basic economics says that if the amount being paid wasn't sufficient then there wouldn't be a supply. So riddle me that. Why are adjuncts putting up with it then if it's situation as bad as the Holocaust?
DeleteGone Grad, yes I took into account cost of living and my 25% cumulative tax rate (state+federal+medicare+SS). I quoted $32/hr which is my pre-tax salary to compare it to the $22/hr pre-tax adjunct rate.
Oops, I'm sorry ... apparently we've encountered another "I've read Ayn Rand, so I've figured out the world before I'm 30" snowflake.
DeleteBasic economics explains academe?
[SFX: Bourbon pouring]
Try being a touch less basic with your economics. As an engineering student, I would hope you understand there's often a significant time lag between prevailing conditions changing in a system and the new equilibrium being achieved. Additionally, consider more carefully exactly what this supply is that you believe is being satisfied. The criteria for being suited to a job is not simply being willing to do that job.
DeleteBy the way, you forgot transit time and time lost to inconvenient schedules in your calculations. Adjunct hours are rarely in uniform blocks and more often than not, adjuncts have to work at multiple schools.
Basic economics says that if the amount being paid wasn't sufficient then there wouldn't be a supply. So riddle me that. Why are adjuncts putting up with it then if it's situation as bad as the Holocaust?
DeleteDid you really just ask this question? Why does anyone work a job for which they're overworked and underpaid? Because the economy sucks. Because there aren't enough jobs. Because it's a buyer's market for people who are hiring right now--in most professions, not just college teaching. Because wages haven't kept pace with the cost of living and the cost of education. I mean, really: Why does anyone work at Walmart? Why does anyone work at McDonald's? Why do recent college-grads accept low-paying jobs as receptionists when they have loans to repay? Why do people major in engineering and then take jobs in real estate instead? Perhaps your underpaid, overworked adjuncts didn't explain this because all they had time to do was pull some lecture notes out of a filing cabinet.
And how long to prep those classes? And what about student issues that take extra time? Each case of plagiarism is at least 3 extra hours per case. Those 10 hours per class only work if you do little or no prep, have small classes with small grading chores, and have no need for extra meetings and extra work when students do something wrong.
ReplyDeleteSome weeks, my adjunting chores could take up 20 hours for a section. Oh, but in your eyes, $11 an hour is just fine...
The "real" faculty get total compensation equivalent to $30-50 an hour though, if you include benefits, etc. In fact, I made more as a TA, with less work. And did all the grading for those profs, or taught 2 classes on my own.
It might be different for other colleges but every engr. proffie I've ever had has used lecture materials that were either written by someone else or written years and years ago. Prep is limited to the time it takes to open a filing cabinet and pull out a folder. That's why I didn't include prep in my time calculation.
DeleteI hope that if you ever get to teach, you discover that even engineering profs using pre-prepared notes require a little more prep time than that. Unless they suck. Or they spent a lot of time on prep in their younger days.
DeleteMeanwhile, you're aware there are subjects other than engineering, right?
"Or they spent a lot of time on prep in their younger days."
DeleteI think that's the case. One particularly bad professor last semester had to use a overhead projector...with a lightbulb...because he hadn't bothered updating his notes that were originally printed on those transparencies over a decade ago. Hadn't seen one of those projectors since freshman year high school.
SS, you remind me of an administrative apparatchik who had a side job as an Accounting adjunct. His calculations of adjunct needs regarding prep time and space was based on his own experience: a calculator would do the trick.
DeleteIf you lack the imagination to understand that not all teaching resembles the, apparently, lackluster performances you've been witness to -- well, then someone failed you in the delivery and/or reception of a university education.
It's about time the adjuncts and contingent faculty of the world united! I wish you all the best. I did too many years as a postdoc, and as an Accursed Visiting Assistant Professor. It was only slightly better than being a drug addict, particularly considering the physical toll it took on me, never mind the chronic anxiety.
ReplyDeleteAt my college, the going rate is $1700 per 3 credit course.
ReplyDeleteActually, sockstalker is right--at least potentially--about the hours. A full-time load at my school is 4/4. My university presumes I have a 40-hour week and all my benefits are calculated as such. This means that each class I teach takes up approximately 10 hours of time per week. Eighteen weeks is about right, overall, per semester. I know we make a lot of noise about "having" to work more than 40 hours a week, but truthfully, we mostly don't. There may be exceptions, but we mostly don't. I could easily manage all my work for all four classes working 8-5 every day, with a break for lunch. I make a lot more work for myself than I need to, so I work more, but I realize I could accomplish it satisfactorily in less. It's about time management, and prioritizing. Those at R-1s could do the same.
ReplyDeleteHowever adjuncts get $2000 per course at my university, or eleven dollars an hour with no vacation, sick leave, or benefits. One could probably get a much better deal working at the Kroger.
The reason people do adjunct instead of working at Kroger is that they are desperate to stay in the "academy," desperate not to fall through the cracks, desperate to get that job they trained for. Just...desperate. What they want goes beyond money, and this allows a corrupt system to exploit them.
And sockstalker, just because we can pay someone less than they deserve, doesn't mean we should. If there is an oversupply of maids, and you can hire a maid for $1 an hour, to clean your toilets and scrape the gunk out from under your fridge, would you?
The answer to that question goes beyond economics, and speaks to what kind of person you are.
However adjuncts get $2000 per course at my university, or eleven dollars an hour with no vacation, sick leave, or benefits. One could probably get a much better deal working at the Kroger.
DeleteThe reason people do adjunct instead of working at Kroger is that they are desperate to stay in the "academy," desperate not to fall through the cracks, desperate to get that job they trained for. Just...desperate. What they want goes beyond money, and this allows a corrupt system to exploit them.
I'm not quite sure about this. You're assuming that Kroger is willing to hire someone with a PhD.
I know many adjuncts who would be happy to take a nonacademic job. Unfortunately, and perhaps unfairly, many employers assume that PhDs are overqualified or unwilling to do certain jobs. And then there's the question of experience. When you've spent your last seven years teaching, you really don't have experience or qualifications to do anything else.
"I know we make a lot of noise about "having" to work more than 40 hours a week, but truthfully, we mostly don't."
DeleteThat's what I'm thinking but don't want to say for fear of being lynched. It's the same with students...we generally complain about not having enough time to do anything but in reality we do...we just use the time doing unproductive crap.
And Gone Grad is the second or third person in this stream to mention PhD's. Why is everyone considering a PhD such a big deal like everyone should worship your genius because you got an extra piece of paper? For engineering a PhD only counts as 4-5 years experience. If I came up to you and said "I've got 4 years experience" you'd still think I was a baby in the field.
I'm using it as an example. I'm sure there are Krogers that aren't. Substitute "bookstore," maybe. And leave off the PhD. Nothing says you have to tell everyone you have a doctorate where it's not relevant.
DeleteAnd I don't think your last statement is accurate. I know many that have left academia, with PhDs and ABDs. Not one of them ended up working at a Kroger. They're all making far more money than I am now. A research degree in the humanities teaches skills that are very valuable in the workplace. In the case of the PhDs and ABDs I'm talking about, they're in web design, editing (one is a senior editor for a NYC publishing house), computer software sales, etc.
Every single academic I know that just left and started temping (in a medium to large city, mind you...you can't do this in a teeny town) got bumped upstairs mighty quick.
PhDs have plenty of experience and qualifications for all sorts of things. Saying "I can't do anything else!" is what keeps people in the adjunct track. They hope that the "big job" is right around the corner, and they believe that they can't do anything else.
It's not. And they can.
Stella, is teaching the only duty in your job description? Mine requires advising and committee work as well. Our admins have told us that they expect 15 hours for teaching, 10 hours for office/student advising, and the rest for college service, grading, and class prep. My department requires a minimum of three committees alone. That's not counting the work I do on college and system committees, not to mention a statewide higher ed committee appointment. I'm also required to keep current in my field through professional development, and since there's no money for travel, that means lots of system-based activities with the occasional foray to somewhere that's within driving distance. I would imagine those at unis who have research requirements to attain tenure and promotion also need to set aside time for that activity. So unless a proffie is a "teach my classes, come to office once in a blue moon, and sign up for committees that never meet" type, I think 40 hours is pretty much the minimum amount of work the job requires.
DeleteI think on average most people could do their work in 40 hours. Yes, I have advising and meetings and committee work. I count those into my total. It ebbs and flows.
DeleteThere are people doing less, and people doing more. I'm talking about the average. I once figured out that I could do my job in 20 hours a week, if I cut corners no one would ever notice, and cut distractions. I'm not saying I would do it well, but I would do it and probably not get called on the carpet. I'm sure there are many of us who are lazy and carrying along at 20 hours per week, every week. I'm sure there are weeks when I work 60 hours. I'm sure there are academics working 60 hours on average all the time.
What I'm talking about it the whole--on the whole we can get our work done in 40 hours a week, satisfactorily.
My contract is nine months long, and those nine months include about four weeks of winter break, a week of Thanksgiving break, and a week of spring break. That's six weeks of extra working days figured in there as well, then, when one could be working. Even if you factor in a generous vacation and stick two weeks in there where you go on a cruise or something, that's still three weeks to catch up. We also get assorted days off for holidays which I don't count. When you factor that in as well, then yes it can certainly be done in 40 hours a week.
People don't. I don't. But it can be done.
@sockstalker:
ReplyDeletePhDs that want their "genius" worshipped are insecure assholes. But a PhD is not merely "eperience". You have to produce a book-length work of original scholarship (at least in the humanities). It's very difficult, so difficult that 50% of the people that finish all their qualifications save for the dissertation abandon ship and don't finish it. It wears you down in a way that "experience" doesn't. Ask any academic if they'd rather spend a year taking classes (the equivalent of "experience"), or a year working on the diss. I know what I'd answer.
They choose PhDs to teach college because they have research degrees. Because they have completed a series of courses and a book-length research manuscript.
That's not merely "experience". Of course you don't have to "worship" PhDs. But you should respect the amount of dedication and achievement that the degree represents. If you don't, you don't know enough about what a PhD requires.
Where do they get the idea that adjuncts don't have the "training" of real professors? I bet I have more training than most and I am not particularly brilliant or exceptional. I have two MA majors, a PhD, a book, a stack of articles and conference papers and a folder full of training certificates from various faculty workshops and training sessions. This is no big deal. Many "real" profs do or have done the key things from this list better than I have, so they have the job and I don't. But there is no difference in the amount of training.
ReplyDeleteIt's not necessarily that they do it better--it's often right place, right time (ie sheer dumb luck). Or who you know. I went from 10 years of adjunct work into a full-time tenure-track position partly because it was the right place at the right time--I'd been adjuncting for the system for 3 years when they had a search fail and then opened an internal search (according to our rules, they had to have a national search fail--and in this case, it was salary issues--before they'll let the adjuncts--who are all qualified, BTW--take a crack at it).
DeleteOne of my colleagues went from Visiting Assistant Proffie (just a step up from regular old adjunct, as far as I can see) at another school to a tenure-track position here because when I saw her in the pool of applicants, I lobbied HARD to have her be one of our three on-campus interviewees. She won the position on her own merits, and she's now in the last year of her TT.
I hope you land a TT gig somewhere, if that's what you want.
Best wishes, Chrome
Indeed, adjuncts have proved that they're capable of surviving in the jungle. My own Ph.D. thesis advisor is a very smart fellow, but he couldn't teach me this, because he had a cushy life. I hope you get a t-t job, if you want one.
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