A nationwide trend of hiring increasingly more adjuncts, or part-time professors, has many in the field of higher education concerned about the effects these policies have on the education system overall.
“Most professors teaching classes at Sinclair Community College are adjuncts, part-time faculty who are not allowed to teach more than three classes, and who receive no benefits,” Jacob Bauer, an adjunct in the Philosophy department, said.
Adjuncts are allowed to teach up to 11 credit hours per semester. However, because most classes offered at Sinclair are three-credit-hour classes, adjuncts normally average nine credit hours per semester (one more three-hour class would put them over the limit by one credit hour.) According to Bauer, even nine credit hours aren’t guaranteed, as many adjunct professors are offered one or two courses per semester.
Under these circumstances, the maximum adjunct professors at Sinclair can make is $22,356 per year, but in many cases is more likely around $15,000.
“The federal poverty guideline for a family of three is $19,790. I absolutely love my job. However, I do not love that my family relies on Food Stamps and Medicaid to get by,” Bauer said.
Between 1970 and 2008, the rate of pay for adjuncts went down 49 percent, according to study done last year by the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association.
“Colleges and universities are cutting costs by replacing full-time professors with part-time faculty members,” Vincent Alexander, a Biology department adjunct, said. “It’s happening all over the country.”
However, Alexander said working as a part-time faculty member works well in some adjuncts’ cases.
“I’m single, 27 years old, and I live by myself. If I was raising a family, or trying to make a full career, then things would have to be a little different,” he said.
Alexander said he’s still employed at Edison Community College in Piqua, as well as Sinclair, to help supplement his overall income.
“I’ve taught at several schools. At Sinclair we do have our own adjunct building — we have our own parking and free printing services. Some schools don’t even give their adjuncts those benefits,” Alexander said.
Therese Watkins, an adjunct in the CIS department, agrees. Like Alexander, Watkins is another part-time professor who seeks opportunities apart from teaching at Sinclair to supplement her income.
“It’s a balancing act. I teach two classes at Clark State, two at Sinclair, and one at Wright State, on top of another part-time job,” Watkins said. “Many cannot make a living with just one job as an adjunct. It’s almost impossible, especially if you have house or car payments.”
At Sinclair, adjuncts are paid a flat rate of $782 per credit hour, or $828 after certain training opportunities. However, because adjuncts aren’t permitted to teach more than 11 credit hours, any time they spend working with students outside the classroom is unpaid time.
“I want to be there for my students. I want to help my students. I want to be able to have hours where they can come in and I can answer their questions, but the situation for adjuncts doesn’t always allow that, especially when so many adjuncts are balancing several jobs,” Watkins said. “It has a definite impact on the schools and the education of students in general.”
According to one adjunct faculty member, the ironies can be disheartening at times.
“Before I was an adjunct, I made more money managing a Burger King,” the adjunct said. “I’m teaching people who will graduate and who will make more money than I do in their first year out of college.”
Realities like these are what cause many to question if the treatment of adjuncts is having a negative effect on student learning and on higher education as a whole.
“I think in any job, if you’re not happy about a certain aspect, most people would say you’re not going to perform the job as well,” Alexander said.
Watkins agreed, and expressed worry because according to her, the situation can be seen in colleges countrywide.
“It’s very much a national issue,” Watkins said. “Because it is frustrating that adjuncts have masters degrees, but then go into a job that lacks the benefits of a full-time position.”
According to a report published earlier this year from the Center for Community College Student Engagement, many community colleges rely on part-time instructors to teach 58 percent of their courses, while nearly 70 percent of community college staffs are part-time adjunct professors.
“When you look at it that way, nearly 70 percent of people that teach college in America can’t afford to send their own children to college,” Bryan Mullins, Philosophy adjunct, said.
Mullins said certainly some adjuncts may work in other paying professions, or may be retired from previous jobs and who get by just fine. “But many others are trying to live off $20,000 per year without medical benefits or job security,” he said.
Human Resources Manager Jennifer Kostic, who is in charge of hiring adjuncts at Sinclair, said that in a recent OACC survey Sinclair paid their adjuncts more than any other community colleges that participated in the survey.
“We use over 1,000 adjunct professors every semester,” she said. “The majority of feedback that I get from adjuncts who work at several colleges is that Sinclair treats them the best. I think our adjuncts make us better because they compliment our full-time faculty with their flexability and their real-world experience.”
According to Kostic, a report from 2012 by the Higher Education Information System claimed Sinclair’s adjunct to full-time faculty ratio was 50/50, the highest of all Ohio community colleges.
Still, one adjunct at Sinclair said that during a recent semester, it got to a point where if just one more class was canceled, that adjunct faced the idea of not being able to make mortgage payments.
“It’s based on enrollment,” the adjunct said. “Which can be inconsistent, and that makes it scary a lot of the time, especially if you have a family and a mortgage to worry about.”
In the past, attempts have been made to unionize adjunct professors across the nation. In a Diane Rehm radio interview last week, Peter Schmidt, senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education, spoke on the movement.
“Service Employees International Union … is trying to organize adjuncts around the country using what they call a metro organizing strategy. They are trying to organize enough adjunct and enough colleges in cities to influence the local labor markets and put colleges that do not pay their adjuncts well at a competitive disadvantage in terms of attracting good talent,” Schmidt said.
In the same interview, Maria Maisto, president and executive director for New Faculty Majority, said “In Ohio there is now an Ohio Part Time Faculty Association that is actively looking to organize adjuncts whether within or outside of union contexts.”
Although some adjuncts said they would support a union-like movement, others seemed apprehensive about the idea as well.
“You always have to be careful that unions won’t cause more problems than they fix,” said one adjunct. “If colleges really want to improve the situation, allot time for out-of-class work, and realize that you cannot teach without out-of-class time, whether it’s grading, preparing, meeting with students, whatever it takes. But that’s time we should be paid for.”