As a former Adjunct, I sympathize.
Indiana's statewide Ivy Tech community college system has a target of no more than 30% full-time faculty. The tragedy is that they achieve it. The local university also makes extensive use of adjunct faculty and the pay and benefits there are roughly the same as the community college. That article is not hyperbole.
I'll echo others in the article with regard to "quality." I was recently offered $1,200 to teach a three credit hour survey of calculus course. That pay is, just as the article states, for the hours in front of the class only (and they *love* to tell you, "you'll make $25.00 per hour because you have an advanced degree in the subject.") But, you're required to have at least 3 office hours per week (48 hours for the term minimum), but you do not get paid for those hours. So, you're immediately dropped to no more than $12.50 per hour for the hours you spend on campus. Curriculum prep? Exam prep? Lecture prep? Additional time spent helping students? Grading papers? Submitting required administrative documents? That's all gratis, baby. So what kind of people do this? The kind that really want to teach.
The attitude among colleges and universities is that most adjunct faculty have full-time jobs and are just teaching for fun, so why should they be paid anything? This is just extra pocket money for them. The trouble is that while you might get away with that attitude if 98% or better of your courses were taught by full-time faculty, that is not where we are today. Locally, courses are constantly being cancelled because "we couldn't find anyone to teach this course." Well, no, you can't. Not for the price you're willing to pay.
I'll echo others in the article with regard to "quality." I was recently offered $1,200 to teach a three credit hour survey of calculus course. That pay is, just as the article states, for the hours in front of the class only (and they *love* to tell you, "you'll make $25.00 per hour because you have an advanced degree in the subject.") But, you're required to have at least 3 office hours per week (48 hours for the term minimum), but you do not get paid for those hours. So, you're immediately dropped to no more than $12.50 per hour for the hours you spend on campus. Curriculum prep? Exam prep? Lecture prep? Additional time spent helping students? Grading papers? Submitting required administrative documents? That's all gratis, baby. So what kind of people do this? The kind that really want to teach.
The attitude among colleges and universities is that most adjunct faculty have full-time jobs and are just teaching for fun, so why should they be paid anything? This is just extra pocket money for them. The trouble is that while you might get away with that attitude if 98% or better of your courses were taught by full-time faculty, that is not where we are today. Locally, courses are constantly being cancelled because "we couldn't find anyone to teach this course." Well, no, you can't. Not for the price you're willing to pay.
