Many of the online adjunct jobs will be going away?

In my post above this is what I was talking about.

 

I think good schools like yours will continue to grow and not be affected by the coming bubble pop. UoP, NCU and similar, are going to be severely impacted. Though they pay poorly, they are large employers of adjuncts and it is likely that the job market will suffer. I can't imagine every UoP student migrating to a different school because UoP uses tactics to get students that others would not utilize.

 

Well, we, of course, like growth, but my institution has been a relatively small, local, family-owned (not publicly-traded) institution for five decades. Since I have been there, the number of students in the online campus portion of the university has doubled, but so has the number of staff to support those students. We cap enrollments in online courses and reject at least as many applicants into our Ph.D. as we accept (our Doctor of Pharmacy program is even more selective--only 25-33% are accepted). The strategy since the early sixties has been measured growth and the Chancellor of the University drives a Volvo and does not live in a mansion. I suppose that is why we are still around.

 

A minority of the students in our doctoral program list teaching as one of the major reasons for pursuing the doctorate. Most are looking to rise in their organizations, upgrade their skills to include research, go into consulting as a second career and some are interested in teaching sometime in the future. A few are academic administrators. None are interested in seeking a full-time tenure-track assistant professor position (we encourage those that are to consider a traditional AACSB program).

 

Good point, MC. You have got to have a higher motivation than just becoming an online adjunct to make it through the program. I'm sure some receive enough motivation from the idea of being an adjunct, but, as you say, it's a pretty small payoff for such a big investment of time and money.

 

It must be great to work for an organization that you can feel really good about. One that's doing the right thing and not focusing solely on the most profitable course of action.

 

That was my first thought. I do enjoy my regular full time job at a community college, but after retirement, taxes, insurance, etc. are deducted, the pay is pretty poor. My online adjuncting keeps us above water. I teach for both for-profit and public, as well as private schools online. I just hope that I keep enough of those to stay above water.

 

I feel your pain.

 

Let's see, I got an increase of $100 per class X [number of classes a year] / Cost of the PhD = a breakeven point of someplace around 2083! Honestly, I got mine for a few reasons and the main one was because it was cover by tuition assistance. It might sounds stupid but I said to myself, "I wonder if I can really do this? It would be just about free, I travel 80% of the time and could study for a PhD or watch the Building of the Hoover Dam for the tenth time on the History Channel..." The fact that I have more adjunct options did play into it but it certainly was not the driving force. I would be more interested in leaving a corporate job and work from home teaching fulltime and settle for a decent pay with benefits.

 

The "with benefits" part is probably the most critical.

 

From my discussions in the Capella U LinkedIn group, there are many people who are pursuing an online PhD so they can make a living as adjuncts.

Amazon.com: Adjunct Teaching Online & On-Campus: How to Make Up To 6-Figures and More as an Adjunct Professor (9781451541816): Howard Rubin PhD MS, Daniel Hall: Books

Shawn

 

Not sure about others....

Personally, pursuit of a doctorate is not to teach but about knowledge and to achieve a personal goal. Career wise I am already near the top of my profession and do not need a doctorate to make the last few steps. I would not mind teaching leadership classes but not to make a living. It would be to share knowledge, passion, and to mentor those in the field. I may be in minority but had to throw my .02 cents in........

 

I seems that if your entire livelihood was made doing a stack of part time adjunct jobs, you would be working extremely hard for a job offering marginal pay and poor security. If being an adjunct was a second job for you, that seems like a more comfortable way to live. Or, if you could make it to assistant prof status.

I don't do adjunct work, so correct me if I'm wrong.

 

You are absolutely correct. Adjuncting on top of my full time job is a great gig, but if it were my sole source of income I would be actively and aggressively pursuing another line of work.

 

Yeah, but until health reform kicks in fully, it may be quite difficult to get decent coverage with pre-existing conditions, etc.

 

Don't you mean if healthace reform ever happens?

 

Good point.