The Cost of an Adjunct

[summer]

www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/05/the-cost-of-an-adjunct/394091/

Imagine meeting your English professor by the trunk of her car for office hours, where she doles out information like a taco vendor in a food truck. Or getting an e-mail error message when you write your former biology professor asking for a recommendation because she is no longer employed at the same college. Or attending an afternoon lecture in which your anthropology professor seems a little distracted because he doesn’t have enough money for bus fare. This is an increasingly widespread reality of college education.



Many students—and parents who foot the bills—may assume that all college professors are adequately compensated professionals with a distinct arrangement in which they have a job for life. In actuality those are just tenured professors, who represent less than a quarter of all college faculty. Odds are that students will be taught by professors with less job security and lower pay than those tenured employees, which research shows results in diminished services for students.





Currently, half of all professors in the country are adjuncts or contingent faculty, according to the American Association of University Professors. They teach all levels within the higher-education system, from remedial writing classes to graduate seminars. Unlike graduate teaching assistants, or TAs, they have the same instructional responsibilities as tenured faculty, including assembling syllabi, ordering textbooks, writing lectures, and grading exams. (The remaining quarter or so of American faculty are professors on temporary contracts who have more regular job arrangements than adjuncts, but are not eligible for tenure.)

Adjunct professors earn a median of $2,700 for a semester-long class, according to a survey of thousands of part-time faculty members. In 2013, NPR reported that the average annual pay for adjuncts is between $20,000 and $25,000, while a March 2015 survey conducted by Pacific Standard among nearly 500 adjuncts found that a majority earn less than $20,000 per year from teaching. Some live on less than that and supplement their income with public assistance: A recent report from UC Berkeley found that nearly a quarter of all adjunct professors receive public assistance, such as Medicaid or food stamps. Indeed, many adjuncts earn less than the federal minimum wage. Unless they work 30 hours or more at one college, they’re not eligible for health insurance from that employer, and like other part-time employees, they do not qualify for other benefits.



A year ago, The Atlantic reported on the poor working conditions faced by adjuncts—who, depending on the needs of the school, are often hired a month before the semester begins—beyond their low salaries. To make ends meet, they may teach courses at multiple colleges; they could teach Milton in the morning on one campus and Shakespeare in the afternoon on another. Moreover, according to the analysis, adjuncts are typically excluded from administrative and departmental meetings, meaning they might not be familiar with school policies or other faculty members. On top of instruction, the article explained, they often have to maintain a research agenda and hunt for jobs at faraway conferences without financial support for the trip from a university.



Over the years, the number of tenured professors has dropped while that of adjunct professors has risen, as colleges attempt to rein in costs. Public colleges in particular rely on adjuncts.





Much of these issues have been widely reported on, but what’s often missing from coverage is the impact that this shift is having on students.



It’s unclear whether the transient status and low salaries for adjuncts results in a lower-quality classroom instruction. One 2013 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that students in introductory classes with adjunct professors were more likely than those taught by tenure-track instructors to take a second course in the discipline (and more likely to earn a better grade in that course). But Maria Maisto, the president and executive director of the New Faculty Majority Foundation, a group that advocates in the interests of adjunct professors, argued that while many adjuncts are effective teachers, the study’s findings, which were featured in a New York Times report, may be flawed.



Indeed, some suggest that many adjuncts are unable to provide students with the same quality instruction as do tenured faculty. Judy Olson, a longtime part-time professor who currently works as an adjunct at California State University, Los Angeles, acknowledged that her financial concerns sometimes detract time from lesson planning. She cited other adjuncts who she said are unable to maintain independent research that could otherwise enrich classroom discussions. When administrators hire adjuncts only days before the class begins, she added, they can’t properly prepare syllabi and order books.



Adjuncts readily admit they cannot support students outside the classroom, such as when students need extra help understanding an assignment, general college advisement, or a letter of recommendation for a graduate program. And even if they had the time to provide these services, many colleges don’t provide their adjuncts with office space, so they meet with their pupils in coffee shops or at library desks. Olson for her part said that in the past she’s had to meet with students by the trunk of her car, where she kept all her books and papers as she commuted between different college campuses. Without formal meeting spaces, students may find it difficult to locate their professors when they need assistance on their classwork.

Meeting space aside, adjuncts often report that they simply cannot answer common questions from the students about the requirements for the major, course sequencing, or related classes at the college; to get this information, students instead have to track down tenured faculty on campus. Same with letters of recommendation for admission to graduate programs or post-college jobs: Some adjunct professors may not be willing to write them because they aren’t paid for the time, or students may find it difficult to locate former teachers who are no longer employed at that college. Even if they are willing, colleges might not provide adjuncts with institutional letterhead for the recommendations.



These issues are described in research from The Faculty Majority, my interviews with adjuncts, and personal essays, among other sources. Other commentary, meanwhile, reveals the shifting teaching culture at colleges. In a recent op-ed for The New York Times, Mark Bauerlein, a tenured English professor at Emory, argued that students do not have enough interaction with their professors. Professors are no longer “a fearsome mind or a moral light,” Bauerlein wrote. Students simply show up for class, he argued, jump through some hoops, and get their As. Professors are simply service providers and accreditors. He attributed the changing relationship to the pressure on faculty to publish their research and that on students to satisfy competing demands—go to the gym, socialize, and rush for Greek Life, for example.





But various obstacles make it difficult for adjuncts to engage in those traditional relationships, too. Outside-the-classroom responsibilities—office hours, advisement, and recommendation letters, for example—are rarely spelled out in their contracts. These tasks are implicit job expectations, according to Maisto.



Students may not be aware of these behind-the-scenes discrepancies. College brochures and course registration websites don’t distinguish between their adjunct and tenured faculty, and popular college guides and rankings fail to provide adjunct data for specific schools. Olson said, “students don’t know the difference. They think if you teach college, then you’re a professor. They think we make a $100,000 per year.” Maisto echoed Olson’s concerns, arguing that parents are focused on “cost and prestige” and aren’t as focused on quality. Some adjuncts are determined to make this information more transparent with public rallies, crowd sourced data, and walkouts. Both Olson and Maisto also urged that it’s up to students and their parents, too, to include the status of adjuncts in their criteria when shopping for colleges.

[Deleted]

Ah, the story of my full time night class education. I feel like all of my adjunct instructors were either really good or really bad. There wasn't much in between.

[ChillyMcFreeze]

I was talking to a woman about taking on my old position. She asked if I thought she could make ends meet by doing that part-time and then adjunct-teaching a couple classes. I laughed at her. I feel bad about that.

It's not a bad gig for a gainfully employed professional to do on the side. But it's definitely not a career.

[penguingrrl]

None of that is news to me. H is in a better position as a Visiting Prof, but it's increasingly apparent that he likely will never progress past VP. Partly because as a VP he has no access to resources to research whatsoever, no "formal research requirement" and therefore no way to build his credentials while working as a VP. It's another way academia is exploiting people. They allow more students to enter PhD programs than the job market can absorb at the end, then hold a carrot on a stick in the form of postdocs and Visiting Professor positions and Adjunct positions that are really ways for the college/university to meet their needs for less money than investing in a tenure track hire while doing nothing to boost the person's future employment potential (and often downright hurting future employment opportunities).

[jsillyfun]

This all rings very true. I adjunct but luckily only need a part time income and job. Thankfully Dh is tenure track or we would in no way be able to support a family.

[cville]

ProfessorArtNerd

I think the treatment of adjuncts is horrible. It's undercutting the function of education for business ends. How can we expect this to be any different than, like, broadcast news selling out for infotainment?

[celeste]

May 26, 2015 15:42:04 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

None of that is news to me. H is in a better position as a Visiting Prof, but it's increasingly apparent that he likely will never progress past VP. Partly because as a VP he has no access to resources to research whatsoever, no "formal research requirement" and therefore no way to build his credentials while working as a VP. It's another way academia is exploiting people. They allow more students to enter PhD programs than the job market can absorb at the end, then hold a carrot on a stick in the form of postdocs and Visiting Professor positions and Adjunct positions that are really ways for the college/university to meet their needs for less money than investing in a tenure track hire while doing nothing to boost the person's future employment potential (and often downright hurting future employment opportunities).

I'm just finishing up a VP contract and decided not to renew for another year for all of the reasons you just listed. My teaching load was twice that of tenure track profs in my department and my salary was 65% of what my husband (new tenure track hire in another department) made. I received health but not retirement benefits, regardless of length of employment. I had a little bit of research money but no time to actually do anything with it because I was teaching all the time. The only thing I have to show for this year is a bunch of good teaching evaluations, which we all know mean very little on the job market. Academic currency is in grants and pubs, which I did not advance in this year because of my heavy teaching load. In sum, it was a dead end job. I'm on the hunt for something better, likely outside of academia.

[irishbride2]

I will say I'm conflicted.

We talk about lowering the cost of education, but we scoff at attempts at lowering professor costs.

I tend to be more pro-professor side.

But (I know this isn't the point of this particular article) what should we focus on to lower costs? Especially at state schools where the focus should, IMO, be being affordable to residents of the state.

Our state tuition costs are really low comparatively (in state can cost less than 3k for a semester). But we also depend heavily on adjuncts.

As someone very pro liberal arts, I'm conflicted. 

[ProfessorArtNerd]

God, I love being in the classroom. And I hate it when these articles point out how poorly I'm treated.

It's slightly better for me at the community college because we are unionized, but the university, not s much. I have been there for nine years and I only know a few of my fellow professors. Our department is 75% adjunct, that's nuts.

I like to think I'm a good professor, but it's hard to do a good job when I have a trunk overflowing with case studies because I have no office on campus. Or phone number. And the secretary has no idea who I am.

[ProfessorArtNerd]

May 26, 2015 21:32:09 GMT -5 irishbride2 said:

I will say I'm conflicted.

We talk about lowering the cost of education, but we scoff at attempts at lowering professor costs.

I tend to be more pro-professor side.

But (I know this isn't the point of this particular article) what should we focus on to lower costs? Especially at state schools where the focus should, IMO, be being affordable to residents of the state.

Our state tuition costs are really low comparatively (in state can cost less than 3k for a semester). But we also depend heavily on adjuncts.

As someone very pro liberal arts, I'm conflicted. 

We could start with the administration. There are more administrators than professors at my community college job. It's the suggestion I hear most often, anywy

[celeste]

Three things off the top of my head:
1. There is enormous inflation in the number of administrators in higher ed, and an accompanying increase in their salaries. You have adjuncts making $20k/year and a million deans making $100-300k.

2. The amount of money "public" universities receive from the state decreases every year. Our politicians are choosing not to fund higher ed and then passing that burden off onto students in the form of tuition hikes and to temporary faculty in the form of low salaries.

3. I teach at a school that has an enormously profitable sports program, but the profits are kept 100% separate from the operating funds of the university. Our sports program capitalizes on the name of the school and gives literally nothing in return. There has to be a better way to share the wealth.

[tacosforlife]

May 26, 2015 21:39:02 GMT -5 ProfessorArtNerd said:

May 26, 2015 21:32:09 GMT -5 irishbride2 said:

I will say I'm conflicted.

We talk about lowering the cost of education, but we scoff at attempts at lowering professor costs.

I tend to be more pro-professor side.

But (I know this isn't the point of this particular article) what should we focus on to lower costs? Especially at state schools where the focus should, IMO, be being affordable to residents of the state.

Our state tuition costs are really low comparatively (in state can cost less than 3k for a semester). But we also depend heavily on adjuncts.

As someone very pro liberal arts, I'm conflicted. 

We could start with the administration. There are more administrators than professors at my community college job. It's the suggestion I hear most often, anywy

Yes. I have read multiple reports showing that increased education costs pretty closely track increases in administration.

More administrators than professors? What in the actual fuck are these assclowns administrating?

[penguingrrl]

May 26, 2015 21:24:27 GMT -5 celeste said:

May 26, 2015 15:42:04 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

None of that is news to me. H is in a better position as a Visiting Prof, but it's increasingly apparent that he likely will never progress past VP. Partly because as a VP he has no access to resources to research whatsoever, no "formal research requirement" and therefore no way to build his credentials while working as a VP. It's another way academia is exploiting people. They allow more students to enter PhD programs than the job market can absorb at the end, then hold a carrot on a stick in the form of postdocs and Visiting Professor positions and Adjunct positions that are really ways for the college/university to meet their needs for less money than investing in a tenure track hire while doing nothing to boost the person's future employment potential (and often downright hurting future employment opportunities).

I'm just finishing up a VP contract and decided not to renew for another year for all of the reasons you just listed. My teaching load was twice that of tenure track profs in my department and my salary was 65% of what my husband (new tenure track hire in another department) made. I received health but not retirement benefits, regardless of length of employment. I had a little bit of research money but no time to actually do anything with it because I was teaching all the time. The only thing I have to show for this year is a bunch of good teaching evaluations, which we all know mean very little on the job market. Academic currency is in grants and pubs, which I did not advance in this year because of my heavy teaching load. In sum, it was a dead end job. I'm on the hunt for something better, likely outside of academia.

I'm sorry you're experiencing the same thing! It's so difficult. I am not working and haven't since H started grad school (which was the week our first was born; he went to grad school in NYC and daycare far exceeded my salary), so he is staying until he can get a non academic position because he needs to support our family, but will cut out as soon as that happens because it's clear this is a dead-end position that will be harder to love out of the longer he stays. He loves teaching and is great at it, but really misses doing science!

[mcburglar]

Until prospective students and their parents know to ask about adjunct ratios and understand the limitations of adjunct professors there won't be change.

And the administration is definitely bloated but the creature comforts of the college experience are growing exponentially as well. It costs so much money to offer state of the art dorms, facilities, doing, and other services.

[LadySusan]

Yup. This article rings true to me and is one of the reasons I opted out.

I know someone who declined an adjunct teaching position because it was crappier hours and crappier compensation than her postdoctoral fellowship. She still has a few years of postdoc funding left and she is hoping that something better comes up.

[phunluvin82]

I work in student services and used to also teach a few courses as a adjunct...and I agree with everything in the article. Particularly the inaccessibility that comes when the adjunct has no office, phone number, etc...and the lack of time to prep courses.

I was really fortunate in both of those aspects due to being a full-time staff member, even though I wasn't in an academic position. The students knew where they could find me. I had an office, a phone number, etc. I was also fortunate to teach the same 2 classes for several semesters which meant that I was never prepping from scratch, only improving upon the previous semester's curriculum and lessons. The first semester I taught, it took me a LOT of prep time and research...I can't imagine having to do that every semester because you don't really know ahead of time what you'll be teaching or even at which school.

Adjuncts were never meant to be fulfilling the vast majority of teaching assignments at colleges while forgoing benefits and even basic tools needed to do their jobs well. It was originally intended mainly as a job for working industry professionals who could lend a specific expertise to certain courses, despite not being available to work in academia full-time. But as state and federal governments just cut higher ed budgets further and further, schools are looking for any way to cut back. It's a shame.

[emilyj]

If you want to look at cutting costs for students, it has to start at the administrative level. Period. I've seen the salaries for our deans on up. They're ridiculous.

I would like to see that money from administration shift down into a) keeping faculty salaries competitive, and b) opening up enough lines to have all/almost all full-time faculty. (I say almost all, because in my field, it makes sense for us to utilize professionals as adjuncts. I know my field isn't the only one like that. However, our adjuncts are professionals first.)