Comments on The Part-Time Satisfaction Gap

• Blaming the victim indeed
• Posted by SUNY Steve , Lecturer, College Writing Program at Buffalo State College on April 16, 2009 at 8:15am EDT

• These findings and Paul Umbach's interpretation of them are a step in the right direction for the hundreds of thousands of adjuncts nationwide whose job satisfaction must come mainly from their subject matter and interaction with their students, considering the way they've been neglected by their institutions and better-treated colleagues. Now to translate these findings into action. The solution is so simple: Faculty working conditions are student learning conditions.

• Thanks for the Adjunct Coverage
• Posted by Up and Coming Adjunct on April 16, 2009 at 8:30am EDT

• Thanks, Scott, for keeping the issue of bias in adjunct hiring at the forefront of IHE's coverage. I hope that higher ed gets the message that all faculty deserve basic living wages and the humane health care coverage that so many schools deny them. It stands to reason that a professor will be much better and more devoted to teaching if s/he doesn't have to worry constantly about how to make ends meet. Today's article on Denison is also encouraging.

• Posted by Piss Poor Prof at www.burntoutadjunct.wordpress.com on April 16, 2009 at 10:30am EDT

• The initial snarky response to these "findings" tumbles out as: really? Shocked? and No...(wagging ones head in mock surprise).

  One needs no report to know that "benefits" translates, for many, into health coverage. That "job satisfaction" often equates directly to life satisfaction--"I got a PhD for this?" as one is standing in the medicine isle trying to figure out the best/cheapest concoction for combating the latest infectious disease floating around campus--God forbid one actually has a real condition (ski trip off!).

  Or that job satisfaction equates to navigating ones familial obligations. Not all adjuncts are single/shacked-up recent grads looking for their "break" and paying their dues until entrance into the tenured promised land. Some have families, with children and spouses and dreams of moving out of the one-step above subsidized housing. Adjuncting is often an indulgence of one spouse while the other pulls in the living wage.

  So, continue with your studies (or read a blog or two) and slowly realize that the current conditions are untenable/untenurable.

• MANY ADJUNCTS DON'T NEED BENEFITS
• Posted by Keith Johnson , Adjunct/Sociology on April 16, 2009 at 10:30am EDT

• This study of adjuncts on 300 campuses is extremely useful. However, it should be noted that adjuncts are far more varied in backgrounds and interests than are the full-time academics. Studies around the country have found that at many, around half of the adjunct faculty already receive benefits:
  (1) about a quarter of the adjuncts work full-time elsewhere, especially those in career rather than in transfer teaching;
  (2) another quarter are semi-retired and are on pensions, get Medicare and otherwise are covered; and
  (3) a third group are spouses of full-time employees, either at the college or elsewhere and are covered by the spouse's benefits.

  Taking such variation into account means that administrations considering extending benefits to adjuncts may find the cost to be far less than anticipated. Medical insurance, for example, is extremely important for those who don't have it, while those already covered are not interested.

  For one study of the adjuncts at my community college, and references, go to this web site:

  http://oaktonafa.org/AFASurveyReport2008.pdf

  In general, the studies seem to show that salary is the one feature that all adjuncts agree is below par and unsatisfactory. However, study findings also note that the lack of equal treatment and respect is closely bound with the low salary and lack of benefits, and pay may be the lightening rod for dissatisfaction in general among this highly heterogeneous group.

• Full timer Relocating
• Posted by Meryl Worley , Instructor, Teacher Education at Arkansas State University on April 16, 2009 at 12:00pm EDT

• Having been a full time instructor, I am now relocating and finding that most college faculty positions that I am qualified for are adjunct or part time. This means no benefits. My major concern is no 403B fund which has been very beneficial for retirement savings. Teaching is my passion and I want to continue to teach future teachers to be passionate about their teaching.

• Posted by Betsy Smith , Adjunct Professor of ESL at Cape Cod Community College on April 16, 2009 at 1:30pm EDT

• I am currently paying over $700/month in health insurance, so if my institution provided coverage as a benefit, that would put more money in my pocket than an increase in salary ever could. For those who have health plans elsewhere, though, salary remains the biggest issue.

  Did the study look at a third almost equally important concern: job security? Will I have at least the same number of classes this semester as I had last semester? Until adjuncts have a reasonable assurance that their income will not vary capriciously from semester to semester, satisfaction is likely to be low. After having taught two courses/semester for almost ten years, I have been assigned only one class for fall, and someone else has been given what I had come to regard as "my" course. Needless to say, my satisfaction with my institution has plummeted. My experience, unfortunately, is not unique; this kind of uncertainty has a distinctly negative effect on adjuncts who know that their situation is, at best, precarious.

• Cooperation is an Important Solution
• Posted by Charles Dyson , Director at College Benefits Alliance on April 16, 2009 at 4:45pm EDT

• There are a couple key factors that this article didn’t explain when it comes to adjunct employee benefits. Adjuncts, as described in this blog, were traditionally retirees or employed full-time at other jobs outside higher education. A very small percentage relied totally on their adjunct faculty position to bring home a sustainable income or to supply important benefits. A very significant transition has taken place over the last fifteen years in higher education. There are more adjunct faculty relying on their college paychecks to pay the bills. Many colleges and universities have over-leveraged themselves with adjunct faculty because it costs a lot less to hire an adjunct faculty then replace a retired full tenured professor. The colleges and universities are requiring that adjuncts not only teach a course, but courses during regular work day hours, which creates a challenge for any adjunct trying to hold down a full-time or part-time job outside of academia. They are requiring adjuncts to sit in on department meetings, work on published papers, and hold regular office hours for students. Our benefits organization has managed employee benefits in higher education for over forty three years. We get calls on a regular basis from adjuncts voicing their frustration with their increased job requirements, and low pay, and of course in most instances, no benefits. The challenge that we have seen with colleges and universities, including community colleges, is that alone they will have a very hard time delivering quality benefits to adjunct faculty. Even major universities do not have the number of adjunct faculty that will satisfy an underwriter at an insurance carrier. A college benefits alliance can be one very important solution to delivering quality adjunct faculty benefits. Colleges and universities can work together to leverage their buying power to offer cost effective adjunct benefits, both voluntary benefits (employee paid) and employer paid adjunct benefits. charles@collegebenefitsgroup.com

• Posted by Ex-Adjunct on April 17, 2009 at 12:15pm EDT

• I was an adjunct working at a 12-14 academic hour rate at a community college for four years. Fifteen hours was considered a full time load. I taught both day and evening classes. My pay was less than a "full time overload" pay rate. Even with the inequities, I liked teaching and would still be doing so if if it were not for the health insurance issue.

  Working adjunct is working as a private contractor in small business lingo. As my husband and I approached 60 we could no longer obtain reliable insurance coverage. I was an adjunct, he owned a small business. I am now working full time at a job I like less but that has benefits. Had I had access to health insurance I likely would still be teaching.

  As the "boomers" retire (much of our tenured faculty) and the economy thaws, labor shortages are expected. Boomers putting off retirement due to the stock market slide has given academia a reprieve. At some juncture, the issue has to be dealt with to maintain quality in education.

• hand to mouth
• Posted by ESL teacher , Assistant Professor, ESL at NYC Community College on April 23, 2009 at 11:15pm EDT

• A previous poster wrote that most adjunct faculty aren't counting on the salary/benefits they receive from teaching, as they are either working full-time somewhere else or have a full-time employed spouse. This may be true in some places, or may have been true in the past, but the adjuncts I talk to in my department are very much counting on getting another class next semester, on finding something for the summer, and finding creative solutions for long breaks between paychecks. Some I know teach 5 or more courses at 3 different campuses, without office space. They trade information about which college needs instructors and worry about getting sick. It is no way to live, and must necessarily affect the quality of teaching they are able to provide. I feel lucky to have secured a full-time position for myself, for I know that there are many more teachers than full-time jobs. And I could not live with the insecurity (and poverty) that long-time adjuncts endure.

• Where English Adjuncts Really Work
• Posted by Scholarbo , Adjunct English Instructor at Tech/Community College on April 27, 2009 at 10:45am EDT

• Keith Johnson's remark about most adjuncts having benefits from other sources may not be true for English adjuncts and others who teach humanities subjects. Some may teach full-time in the high schools, and once in a while there may be a moonlighting journalist, but frankly, most jobs in the private and civil sectors simply don't ask for M.A. and Ph.D.'s in English and humanities. Sometimes our adjuncts have taken clerical or retail jobs to obtain benefits, but even these are more scarce today. Even married adjuncts would rest easier knowing that they could quickly get benefits if their spouses lost their jobs, died or left.

  Working for less than 1/2 of what the full-time faculty earn offends any adjunct, and grading demands in certain departments like English are too overwhelming to make it practical for adjuncts to double their teaching loads.

  The college where I teach frankly plans to save money by increasing adjunct usage as the full-time faculty retire, so while I appreciate what is proposed in the Denison article, when exploitation is part of the plan, I despair of seeing positive changes.

• Change your plans
• Posted by RL on May 22, 2009 at 2:00pm EDT

• After reading the article and especially the comments, I can't help but wonder why people today would complete masters and doctorate degrees in academic areas (versus professional masters programs) since being hired as an adjunct indefinitely is a real possibility for many and adjuncts are compensated so little relative their their educational level and time and energy spent on the work.