Adjunct Support Thread

[polly_mer]

Adjuncts often face additional challenges that are related to being on term-by-term contracts or working at multiple institutions while not feeling truly at home at any of those institutions.

This thread is a place to discuss those challenges, whether unionization is a good option for your particular situation, and what others have found helpful to have a good life that may include teaching for pay, but is not currently the desired academic position.

The point is support for those who need perspective whether that's dealing with the department chair who just won't send the contract so the paycheck will arrive or more general support on exploring other options to have a rich intellectual life while making enough money to live inside and eat regularly.

[polly_mer]

Let's be brutally honest: everyone needs to eat and probably wants to live inside.  Sure, adjuncting at multiple schools isn't necessarily a first choice, but it could be an adequate stop-gap measure for a couple years while getting ducks in a row for a different career path while applying widely for jobs that will be more stable.

How many schools is realistic?  From the data, 2 schools is not uncommon, but what tips can we share on how to make this an efficient effort?

What can one do to maximize income while keeping effort at a reasonable level?  Some of the sad stories end up with someone working 60+ h/week and still not making $30k/year.  Are there any great tips on how to come up to a full-time income while still having time/energy left in the week to have a non-work life?

[polly_mer]

Unionization is often floated as a solution to the problem of low pay, no benefits, and no assurances that one will have any courses to teach in an upcoming term.

I recently ran across the per credit going rates negotiated by the faculty union at The University of British Columbia (https://www.hr.ubc.ca/faculty-relations/compensation/minimum-salaries-sessional-lecturers/#18) (link goes to Arts and Sciences rate).  For those who want to know, the minimum per credit rate is CAN$2305 , which is almost CAN$7k for a three-credit course (~US$5300 at today's exchange rate).

In Florida, where adjuncts are putting substantial effort into unionizing, the current median is US$1900 per three-credit course and the union organizers are calling for the rate to go to US$4000 for a three-credit course (http://seiufacultyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/FL-Colleges-in-Crisis.pdf).  For those who refrain from doing math, that means even with a union in Florida getting everything for which they ask, the adjuncts in Florida will still be worse off than the adjuncts at The University of British Columbia since Vancouver is also 10% cheaper to live than Miami (https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/comparison/miami/vancouver? at today's currency exchange rate).

The MLA recommends that a three-credit course taught during a semester be paid at US$11 100 (https://www.mla.org/Resources/Research/Surveys-Reports-and-Other-Documents/Staffing-Salaries-and-Other-Professional-Issues/MLA-Recommendation-on-Minimum-Per-Course-Compensation-for-Part-Time-Faculty-Members).  Anyone out there making US$11 100/course in an MLA field as an adjunct?  Anyone making more to align with the MLA's recommendations to pay more for contracts shorter than a year and to pay more to make up for no benefits?

[AvidReader]

The MLA recommends that a three-credit course taught during a semester be paid at US$11 100 (https://www.mla.org/Resources/Research/Surveys-Reports-and-Other-Documents/Staffing-Salaries-and-Other-Professional-Issues/MLA-Recommendation-on-Minimum-Per-Course-Compensation-for-Part-Time-Faculty-Members).  Anyone out there making US$11 100/course in an MLA field as an adjunct?  Anyone making more to align with the MLA's recommendations to pay more for contracts shorter than a year and to pay more to make up for no benefits?

I saw the MLA recommendation last year and was flabbergasted. I've now adjuncted for four US institutions based in four separate states (twice near top-10 cost of living cities). I've always been between $2000 and $4000 per course. Ironically, I earned the most in the lowest cost-of-living location, because that wonderful school paid composition instructors (like me!) for an extra credit hour per class to balance the high grading time.

AR.

[polly_mer]

The MLA recommends that a three-credit course taught during a semester be paid at US$11 100 (https://www.mla.org/Resources/Research/Surveys-Reports-and-Other-Documents/Staffing-Salaries-and-Other-Professional-Issues/MLA-Recommendation-on-Minimum-Per-Course-Compensation-for-Part-Time-Faculty-Members).  Anyone out there making US$11 100/course in an MLA field as an adjunct?  Anyone making more to align with the MLA's recommendations to pay more for contracts shorter than a year and to pay more to make up for no benefits?

I saw the MLA recommendation last year and was flabbergasted. I've now adjuncted for four US institutions based in four separate states (twice near top-10 cost of living cities). I've always been between $2000 and $4000 per course. Ironically, I earned the most in the lowest cost-of-living location, because that wonderful school paid composition instructors (like me!) for an extra credit hour per class to balance the high grading time.

AR.

I, too, was flabbergasted because Super Dinky College paid $32k/year for a TT, PhD-required 4/4 load capped at 20 students per freshman comp course with substantial service requirements (officially 70% teaching/20% service/10% professional development).  Generally, English faculty took extra paid hours in the tutoring center to bring the salary up to $40k total. 

We paid language and freshman comp adjuncts at $1800/course and firmly enforced the enrollment caps both for the best learning experience and to keep the grading expectations reasonable.  The adjuncts were also eligible for extra paid work in the tutoring center.

[marshwiggle]

The MLA recommends that a three-credit course taught during a semester be paid at US$11 100 (https://www.mla.org/Resources/Research/Surveys-Reports-and-Other-Documents/Staffing-Salaries-and-Other-Professional-Issues/MLA-Recommendation-on-Minimum-Per-Course-Compensation-for-Part-Time-Faculty-Members).  Anyone out there making US$11 100/course in an MLA field as an adjunct?  Anyone making more to align with the MLA's recommendations to pay more for contracts shorter than a year and to pay more to make up for no benefits?

I saw the MLA recommendation last year and was flabbergasted. I've now adjuncted for four US institutions based in four separate states (twice near top-10 cost of living cities). I've always been between $2000 and $4000 per course. Ironically, I earned the most in the lowest cost-of-living location, because that wonderful school paid composition instructors (like me!) for an extra credit hour per class to balance the high grading time.

AR.

I, too, was flabbergasted because Super Dinky College paid $32k/year for a TT, PhD-required 4/4 load capped at 20 students per freshman comp course with substantial service requirements (officially 70% teaching/20% service/10% professional development).  Generally, English faculty took extra paid hours in the tutoring center to bring the salary up to $40k total. 

We paid language and freshman comp adjuncts at $1800/course and firmly enforced the enrollment caps both for the best learning experience and to keep the grading expectations reasonable.  The adjuncts were also eligible for extra paid work in the tutoring center.

From the article:

Following a review of best practices in various institutions, the MLA recommends minimum compensation of $11,100 for a standard 3-credit-hour semester course or $7,400 for a standard 3-credit-hour quarter or trimester course. These recommendations are based on the assumption of a full-time load of 3 courses per semester (6 per year) or 3 courses per quarter or trimester (9 per year); annual full-time equivalent is thus in the range of the MLA's recommended full-time salary for entry-level instructors.

I notice there's no mention of service or research requirements. So if they're just basing full-time salary on teaching, and ignoring everything else, that would produce such a ridiculously skewed number.

[polly_mer]

From the article:

Following a review of best practices in various institutions, the MLA recommends minimum compensation of $11,100 for a standard 3-credit-hour semester course or $7,400 for a standard 3-credit-hour quarter or trimester course. These recommendations are based on the assumption of a full-time load of 3 courses per semester (6 per year) or 3 courses per quarter or trimester (9 per year); annual full-time equivalent is thus in the range of the MLA's recommended full-time salary for entry-level instructors.

I notice there's no mention of service or research requirements. So if they're just basing full-time salary on teaching, and ignoring everything else, that would produce such a ridiculously skewed number.

It will also work out for the research places where a 3/3 load for a non-TT, teaching-mostly full-time person is $70k.  I know several STEM folks with that kind of position making that kind of money.

People who take a non-representative sample and average over that will end up with worthless numbers.

[mahagonny]

The MLA recommends that a three-credit course taught during a semester be paid at US$11 100 (https://www.mla.org/Resources/Research/Surveys-Reports-and-Other-Documents/Staffing-Salaries-and-Other-Professional-Issues/MLA-Recommendation-on-Minimum-Per-Course-Compensation-for-Part-Time-Faculty-Members).  Anyone out there making US$11 100/course in an MLA field as an adjunct?  Anyone making more to align with the MLA's recommendations to pay more for contracts shorter than a year and to pay more to make up for no benefits?

I saw the MLA recommendation last year and was flabbergasted. I've now adjuncted for four US institutions based in four separate states (twice near top-10 cost of living cities). I've always been between $2000 and $4000 per course. Ironically, I earned the most in the lowest cost-of-living location, because that wonderful school paid composition instructors (like me!) for an extra credit hour per class to balance the high grading time.

AR.

I, too, was flabbergasted because Super Dinky College paid $32k/year for a TT, PhD-required 4/4 load capped at 20 students per freshman comp course with substantial service requirements (officially 70% teaching/20% service/10% professional development).  Generally, English faculty took extra paid hours in the tutoring center to bring the salary up to $40k total. 

Yet you never used demeaning, pejorative terms or phrases such as 'looking for another warm body to hire' (as opposed to 'trained professional') to refer to yourself, despite the lack of attractions in the job you accepted. And as most readers here know, you routinely used 'warm body' in reference to adjuncts you hired, in your many voluminous posts on the old CHE fora. This is why you lack credibility offering an 'adjunct support thread.' You should really give up on it. It's not in your repertoire.

[polly_mer]

Yet you never used demeaning, pejorative terms or phrases such as 'looking for another warm body to hire' (as opposed to 'trained professional') to refer to yourself, despite the lack of attractions in the job you accepted. And as most readers here know, you routinely used 'warm body' in reference to adjuncts you hired, in your many voluminous posts on the old CHE fora. This is why you lack credibility offering an 'adjunct support thread.' You should really give up on it. It's not in your repertoire.

I see a volunteer in the audience!

I look forward to seeing what support for the entire range of adjuncts from death-marching warm bodies to professionals teaching one course on the side looks like.  These all have different problems and concerns, none of which are helped in any way by name-calling and insisting that administrators are the evil enemy.

When someone would rather get facts, figures, and ideas to move forward, go ahead and ping me as someone who made the transition from warm body adjunct to TT to administrator with budget authority to hire to non-academic using my PhD to earn a six-figure salary.  I'm happy to come back and provide ideas and feedback from a variety of perspectives on how to move forward either individually or through accepting positions in which one can help change a local system.

[mahagonny]

Put more directly, regardless of how much data one can throw at the discussion, you shouldn't be advising people you don't respect, and if you do, they should ignore you. That would be my hope. My opinion is stated; it won't change as a result of any replies from or about Polly_Mer.