Faculty Pay: Up and Uneven

Median base salaries of full-time faculty members at four-year colleges and universities increased by 2 percent in 2014, down from 2.1 percent the year before, according to a report being released today by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. The survey found slightly larger gains for those at public institutions (2.1 percent) than at private institutions (2.0 percent).

With the Consumer Price Index at 1.6 percent for the year, that means real spending power increases (but small ones) for full-time faculty members at four-year colleges.

The median average salary for non-tenure-track teaching faculty is 87.8 percent of that received by tenured/tenure-track faculty. And the ratio is better for non-tenure-track faculty members at public institutions (90.5 percent) than at private institutions (86 percent). An important caveat is that only those non-tenure track faculty members who work full-time at an institution are counted, and many part-timers are likely paid much less (even if adding up their various commitments at various colleges).

The CUPA-HR study is one of two annual reviews on the state of faculty salaries. A larger study by the American Association of University Professors, which also includes data from community colleges, will be released in April. While that study is not yet available in full, the AAUP provided some summary data for comparison to the CUPA-HR figures. The AAUP expects its study will show an overall salary increase of 2.2 percent for full-time professors, with larger gains at private institutions (2.4 percent) than at publics (2.25 percent).

Disciplinary Gaps

The AAUP study features data on individual institutions, by rank. The CUPA-HR study focuses on disciplines and does not have institution-by-institution breakdowns.

As has been the case in recent years, the gaps are large. The highest-paid disciplines, for public and private institutions alike, are law, business and engineering. The lowest-paid disciplines vary by sector and rank, but tend to come in the arts and humanities. For example, across sectors, a full professor of business would have an average salary of $126,659, while a full professor of history would have an average of $88,596. The average for a new assistant professor of computer science was $83,430 while the average for a new assistant professor of English was $58,118.

The large salary gaps for new professors may understate the financial impact of these differences. Generally, those in the higher-paying disciplines are also in fields where time to degree for Ph.D.s is considerably shorter than those in the low-paying fields. So those being paid the least have taken the longest to be able to apply for full-time jobs, and on average have more debt.

The following table shows the figures for disciplines and ranks.

Discipline and Rank	All Inst.	Research Univs*	Other Doct.*	Master's	Bach.
ALL DISCIPLINES COMBINED
Professor	100,087	122,030	102,255	90,694	85,377
Associate Professor	77,729	89,442	79,762	73,491	68,383
Assistant Professor	67,881	77,956	70,052	64,156	58,873
New Assistant Prof	69,096	78,280	68,189	64,212	58,205
AGRICULTURE, AGRICULTURE OPERATIONS, & RELATED SCIENCES
Professor	99,778	109,452	89,011	87,638	72,733
Associate Professor	77,534	82,633	76,954	63,162	62,074
Assistant Professor	68,290	74,035	63,513	57,278	55,078
New Assistant Prof	73,763	78,588
NATURAL RESOURCES & CONSERVATION
Professor	97,758	105,567	102,221		83,873
Associate Professor	74,327	78,755	76,352		65,429
Assistant Professor	65,302	70,174	64,065		61,965
New Assistant Prof	64,125	67,840			61,997
ARCHITECTURE & RELATED
Professor	108,094	109,795
Associate Professor	81,618	82,532	84,239
Assistant Professor	66,953	67,774	65,785
New Assistant Prof	65,022	64,600
AREA, ETHNIC, CULTURAL, GENDER  & GROUP STUDIES
Professor	105,304	113,379	95,510		109,613
Associate Professor	78,433	82,393	74,732		82,016
Assistant Professor	65,227	67,059	59,934		67,946
New Assistant Prof	62,730	64,111			64,967
COMMUNICATION, JOURNALISM & RELATED
Professor	91,846	109,782	94,803	84,495	76,033
Associate Professor	70,343	78,464	73,756	66,540	62,694
Assistant Professor	59,262	64,276	62,153	55,826	54,044
New Assistant Prof	59,687	63,688	61,626	54,140	52,693
COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES/ TECHNICIANS & SUPPORT SERVICES
Professor	89,799
Associate Professor	73,470
Assistant Professor	59,012
New Assistant Prof
COMPUTER & INFORMATION SCIENCES & SUPPORT SERVICES
Professor	111,783	136,788	113,746	100,133	92,750
Associate Professor	91,146	107,105	93,489	87,630	77,778
Assistant Professor	79,515	94,099	81,504	75,812	64,601
New Assistant Prof	83,430	95,640	82,871	77,056	65,135
EDUCATION
Professor	90,759	106,565	91,856	82,545	76,112
Associate Professor	70,103	77,049	70,970	66,797	62,909
Assistant Professor	60,114	64,782	62,035	56,545	53,873
New Assistant Prof	59,118	62,983	60,258	55,852	51,882
ENGINEERING
Professor	126,653	139,072	119,875	110,224	100,526
Associate Professor	95,361	100,515	92,425	88,275	80,332
Assistant Professor	83,196	86,996	82,148	75,168	72,677
New Assistant Prof	83,014	87,017	80,646	76,045	67,501
ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGIES & ENGINEERING RELATED
Professor	96,282	121,811	105,223	90,155	73,051
Associate Professor	77,818	86,650	78,792	73,367	65,391
Assistant Professor	68,240	75,953	69,610	61,978	60,519
New Assistant Prof	66,289	72,584
FOREIGN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES, & LINGUISTICS
Professor	92,407	104,163	91,114	80,661	94,300
Associate Professor	70,375	73,780	69,072	66,900	72,761
Assistant Professor	59,124	62,726	58,524	56,183	59,557
New Assistant Prof	58,427	62,540	59,286	52,142	56,054
FAMILY & CONSUMER SCIENCES/ HUMAN SCIENCES
Professor	96,162	111,482	88,275	76,658	76,974
Associate Professor	74,793	80,123	72,406	64,849	65,255
Assistant Professor	63,174	68,238	60,111	58,592
New Assistant Prof	64,790	69,965	58,845
LEGAL PROFESSIONS & STUDIES
Professor	143,509	167,211	152,496	120,542	107,668
Associate Professor	109,354	123,437	115,376	90,540	88,785
Assistant Professor	96,780	108,031	99,456	87,342	86,400
New Assistant Prof	87,215	101,436
ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE/ LETTERS
Professor	86,508	101,298	88,635	81,456	79,934
Associate Professor	66,910	73,827	67,661	63,032	63,849
Assistant Professor	57,227	62,105	60,071	54,477	54,943
New Assistant Prof	58,118	63,082	59,269	53,637	56,980
LIBERAL ARTS & SCIENCES, GENERAL STUDIES & HUMANITIES
Professor	89,888	111,618	97,005	73,859	80,386
Associate Professor	69,471	77,903	71,538	62,051	66,280
Assistant Professor	58,394	63,014	61,898		52,639
New Assistant Prof	58,367	62,051
LIBRARY SCIENCE
Professor	86,294	101,963	77,752
Associate Professor	68,926	78,588	67,847		50,941
Assistant Professor	59,658	67,729	56,113
New Assistant Prof	60,395	67,672
BIOLOGICAL & BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES
Professor	101,974	125,595	105,228	85,135	81,657
Associate Professor	75,558	87,408	80,458	66,970	65,043
Assistant Professor	65,093	75,722	69,762	57,832	55,997
New Assistant Prof	63,193	73,193	67,704	54,444	55,561
MATHEMATICS & STATISTICS
Professor	92,388	111,340	93,469	84,298	82,641
Associate Professor	71,333	82,434	73,481	65,696	66,063
Assistant Professor	62,442	74,740	63,553	58,114	55,798
New Assistant Prof	65,138	76,821	65,265	57,917	57,763
MULTI/ INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES
Professor	102,196	122,812	100,989	81,693	88,365
Associate Professor	76,543	83,660	76,922	64,353	69,566
Assistant Professor	64,763	68,729	68,479		58,830
New Assistant Prof	64,337	70,084			59,322
PARKS, RECREATION, LEISURE & FITNESS STUDIES
Professor	86,902	109,992	89,973	82,387	72,073
Associate Professor	70,069	80,256	71,902	66,769	61,244
Assistant Professor	59,166	68,256	62,693	55,018	51,760
New Assistant Prof	59,091	68,496	59,505	57,888	47,337
PHILOSOPHY & RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Professor	92,062	107,593	100,437	85,348	86,923
Associate Professor	69,160	76,175	71,968	65,449	66,780
Assistant Professor	58,508	63,301	59,861	54,336	56,835
New Assistant Prof	58,084	63,051	59,166	52,811	54,692
THEOLOGY & RELIGIOUS VOCATIONS
Professor	80,682	111,868	81,562	79,951	70,456
Associate Professor	65,710	81,026	63,521	64,685	61,276
Assistant Professor	56,947	71,921	58,593	56,971	53,489
New Assistant Prof	54,675
PHYSICAL SCIENCES
Professor	96,427	118,254	96,090	85,769	86,453
Associate Professor	73,191	85,117	74,161	66,657	67,568
Assistant Professor	63,349	74,144	64,502	57,832	56,925
New Assistant Prof	64,518	73,934	63,505	59,476	58,022
PSYCHOLOGY
Professor	92,568	115,379	94,930	85,832	83,160
Associate Professor	70,336	79,636	72,562	66,234	65,298
Assistant Professor	60,195	68,968	63,212	57,122	55,627
New Assistant Prof	59,920	68,388	59,521	57,464	52,649
HOMELAND SECURITY, LAW ENFORCEMENT, FIREFIGHTING & RELATED SERVICES
Professor	91,643	114,351	97,099	85,605	71,140
Associate Professor	70,793	79,850	68,945	70,171	59,097
Assistant Professor	59,527	64,758	60,668	60,700	54,033
New Assistant Prof	59,933	64,778	61,717	60,194	53,950
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONS
Professor	98,604	119,956	99,491	78,324	73,152
Associate Professor	75,031	85,322	76,061	64,563	60,288
Assistant Professor	63,089	71,233	61,309	59,103	52,367
New Assistant Prof	64,332	75,031	61,754	59,341	49,816
SOCIAL SCIENCES
Professor	97,729	115,904	99,368	87,859	91,082
Associate Professor	75,089	83,933	77,137	69,404	71,606
Assistant Professor	64,177	71,672	64,480	59,032	61,204
New Assistant Prof	65,361	72,848	62,953	56,559	61,446
VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS
Professor	85,634	95,640	89,848	80,100	82,567
Associate Professor	66,975	71,616	69,662	63,438	65,235
Assistant Professor	56,692	59,646	58,288	54,934	55,272
New Assistant Prof	55,663	58,631	54,561	55,250	54,847
HEALTH PROFESSIONS & RELATED
Professor	105,614	125,309	97,844	84,106	80,569
Associate Professor	81,915	91,652	76,888	73,599	67,897
Assistant Professor	69,155	76,148	67,742	62,966	58,668
New Assistant Prof	68,243	75,024	67,823	62,638	55,528
BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT, MARKETING & RELATED SERVICES
Professor	126,659	165,684	132,422	111,044	93,973
Associate Professor	107,183	133,199	111,386	100,692	82,349
Assistant Professor	103,438	130,023	107,994	94,749	76,243
New Assistant Prof	110,865	134,016	107,132	95,749	78,144
HISTORY GENERAL
Professor	88,596	104,995	89,083	82,297	84,659
Associate Professor	67,342	74,841	69,768	64,089	64,120
Assistant Professor	57,773	61,857	59,822	54,167	56,998
New Assistant Prof	57,514	62,308	56,475	53,220	54,675