Adjuncts should get more pay?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by peacfulchaos2001, Sep 23, 2013.

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  1. jam937

    jam937 New Member

    I got $1,300 to teach an 11 week course at a for-profit, ACICS, career type school. It comes out to $14 per hour with no benefits when I include all time inside and outside of the class. The students "paid" (loans, military, grants, etc.) $2,500 tuition each for the class. I'm sure the school made more money from books and fees.

    Class 1 had 30 students so school received $75,000 tuition (I got 1.7% as pay)
    Class 2 had 24 students so school received $60,000 tuition (I got 2.2% as pay)

    In the article the elderly adjunct instructor who died was getting $3,500 for a 16 week course which is $219 per week or ~26 per hour.

    I think adjunct pay is very bad but there are a lot of people wanting to do it. I am doing it for the experience on my resume to help me get an online teaching job or a better paid on campus job. I did enjoy it but I can't live on $14 per hour when I make $45-55 per hour in my industry with my experience. I'm not giving up my real career any time soon.
     
  2. AV8R

    AV8R Active Member

    I read about the lady in the article a couple of days ago on another forum. There are a couple of things about her story that just don't add up. If I'm missing something, maybe someone can enlighten me.

    First, she's 83 years old and does not have any health insurance. At that age shouldn't she qualify for Medicare? I know Medicare doesn't cover all medical expenses but if she's truly as poor as the article states, she would also qualify for Medicaid, which would cover the remainder of her medical bills. With those two programs she would have 100% of her health care taken care of.

    Second, at 83 she should also qualify for Social Security retirement benefits. Now, I know Social Security doesn't pay a lot, but it's enough to survive on. I know because my mother survives on her Social Security benefits. Her income from teaching should have supplemented her retirement and not have been her sole source of income.

    Third, the article stated she had no heat in her home. I don't know what kind of heating system she has but there are many heating fuel assistance programs available for those who qualify. In her grinding poverty, I'm sure she'd qualify.

    Okay, what critical piece of info am I missing here?

    Oh, and yes, I do think adjuncts should be paid more...much more.
     
  3. rebel100

    rebel100 New Member

    I'd be willing to take such a job right now. At least to supplement my meager 1st salary.
     
  4. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    saw this in the news. glad you posted it.
     
  5. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

    If you are broke and struggling as an adjunct with no health benefit, the solution is to move to Canada. Lower personal income taxes , free health care, but there is Federal sales tax.
     
  6. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Forgive my ignorance of such matters but can someone simply "move to Canada" and begin a career?
     
  7. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

    if you have the qualifications to be adjunct then it should be easy to immigrate to Canada. The points system is favorably towards education.
     
  8. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Not anymore, the new immigration system requires a new prospect immigrant to either have a validated job offer (meaning that no qualified canadian is available) or be in a profession in high demand. This means that a French professor would have almost no chance of immigrating to Canada unless the PhD was earned in Canada as there is a new PhD program also to immigrate to Canada for Canadian PhDs.

    Backgrounder — Information for Applicants to the New Federal Skilled Worker Program
     
  9. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Yes, adjuncts should get more pay.
     
  10. mattbrent

    mattbrent Well-Known Member

    As an adjunct, I made about $1800 for a 3 credit course at the community college where I'm now full-time. That was for a traditional class. Online classes were paid based on student enrollment, and in general the magic number was 28 students to get 3 credits of pay. I didn't think that was too bad. It was more than Phoenix paid for a 3 credit graduate class.

    -Matt
     
  11. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    An adjunct in Canada makes from 8 to 10 K per course at the University level in Ontario and Quebec.
    The problem is that is very hard to get them, most part time professors are unionized and make it very hard to break in. Also, taxes are higher so the net to take home can vary depending on the total number of courses you teach.

    In the US is relatively easier to get classes given the lower salaries and non unionized environments, at some private schools the classes tend to be smaller and less demanding. At some of the online for profit schools, I have seen instructors that just give A to everyone in assignments with little feedback such as "great job". If someone can just mark the assignments for a large class in 5 minutes then you are really making more money than Canada. Some American schools don't care that you give As to every single student, this will not work in Canada in public Universities.

    I know a person in Windsor that work in both Countries (Canada and US) as adjunct, he tells me that in Canada salaries are higher but courses more demanding (large classes, strict marking, etc).

    This doesn't mean that Canadian education is necessarily better than the American. At least at some of the American schools that I taught, courses tend to be up to date and more relevant while in the Canadian system, many courses are old and irrelevant because the system is not flexible enough to update courses.
     
  12. Jonathan Whatley

    Jonathan Whatley Well-Known Member

    I think a report that her pay as an adjunct was approximately x dollars, with no health coverage through her employer, was probably misconstrued in one or more later reports like the Yahoo! report linked here. ("died earlier this month with no health insurance.")

    That said…

    Large parts of Medicare have premiums, deductible, and coinsurance. Sadly, I don't think we count on the premise that Medicare plus Medicaid will cover "100% of health care," not least for an 83-year-old patient receiving radiation therapy for cancer.

    Social Security is, inexactly but substantially, a contributory pension program. It does not provide a minimum income. Your mother's Social Security contribution history, directly and/or through her husband, isn't Professor Vojtko's.

    Minimum Social Security retirement amount (Frequently Asked Questions, ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov)
    I expect some of the wheels fell off quickly after Duquesne let her go after 25 years.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 4, 2013
  13. 03310151

    03310151 Active Member

    I'm not sure about the adjunct pay. Everyone should get paid more, and they should get paid enough to live the lifestyle they want. We can even call it a Civil Rights Issue if you'd like.

    Someone referred her to Adult Protective Services but she turned it down. Pride killed this woman, not some University. She was lucky, at age 83, to be able to still be viable and working. Many people do not make it to that age.

    Back to APS. Some of the services that they provide are: Home Based Services, Housing Assistance, Assistance for Homeowners, they even provide grants to help fix or repair things in your home. Qualifications? Over 60 and an income below 200% of the federal poverty level.

    Obviously she qualified for assistance. But, many older people (my folks included), look down on accepting assistance in these forms. Their generation had these backwards notions of taking care of themselves and not accepting charity, they had pride and dignity (what outdated and in the end deadly traits those turned out to be huh?). Thankfully we live in an age now where people not only accept these services, we demand (other people pay for) them.

    The old guard is leaving us, pride intact, but with these sad stories for shitty Yahoo writers to get a few click through's and some advertising trinkets from Adwords and Google.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 3, 2013

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