Teach me how you get paid as fulltime faculty

elkpark · Nov 11, 2009

Usually, when you get to the point of talking money, it's explained v. clearly to you whether it's a nine or twelve month position and how much you would get paid for that amount of time. I've had a few different teaching positions, and there's never been any mystery or confusion in the interview process about how much I would get paid. I've always gotten a monthly paycheck in full-time teaching positions, and, the one time I taught a clinical rotation as an adjunct, I got a "lump sum" paycheck at the end of the rotation.

TooterIA · Nov 11, 2009

So when they talk money, they talk hourly? Monthly? Yearly? I just get confused when you guys talk contracts that they dont break it down to hourly. KWIM? So in an interview they will tell you your hourly wage? (Realizing I will only be paid for 40 but probably put it way more than that)

sharpeimom · Nov 11, 2009

my husband has an 8 month contract but had the choice of 8 or 12 pays per year. he chose 12 pays per year. he is paid on the last working day of each month. for example,

if the 30th falls on a tuesday (or another weekday), his automatic deposit goes in on that day, but if it falls on a saturday, sunday or holiday, it goes in on friday instead.

any summer school course is paid in one lump in august, while overload pay is divided into the number of pays in a semester.

hope this helps.

kathy

sharpeimom:paw::paw:

oncnursemsn · Nov 11, 2009

Hi Tooter,

I am full time faculty and work in town (Boston) as bedside nurse. As Assistant Clinical Professor I am paid salary. I am on the clock for 32 hours. (I work way more then that.) I am fortunate that my job is a 48 week paid salary. So- for 48 weeks, I get my weekly pay. I work a lot during the 2 semesters. I work less during the summer- June/July. It all works out. I have 4 weeks off that I am completely off the books- no school salary. You just know that teaching pays way less than bedside nursing. I work in Boston weekends and make almost double what I make teaching. Hope this helps.

elkpark · Nov 11, 2009

I've never heard a full-time teaching position discussed in terms of "hourly wage." As you note, it's meaningless, since there's no specific number of hours involved -- you put in as many hours as needed to meet the requirements of the position. In my experience, I've been told that it's an X month contract which pays $XXX total, which works out to $XXX per month/paycheck. If you want to know an "hourly" rate, you can do the math yourself. (But keep in mind that you'll probably be putting in a lot more than 40 hours a week! :))

At one school at which I taught, the nine-month-contract people had a choice of getting paid over nine months or getting paid over twelve months (i.e., they got paid less per month but continued to get paychecks over the summer -- in that case, they got paid the same amount total, but didn't have to worry about budgeting and saving for the summer). At another school, all the nine-month-contract paychecks were automatically prorated over twelve months -- you didn't get a choice.

sharpeimom · Nov 11, 2009

afterthought:

my husband has phd., is tenured and his rank is (full) professor. in addition to health and rx benefits, the university provides life insurance equal to five times his annual salary. we are also online using the university server -- at no charge -- but we also each have a laptop and the cable company wireless provider hooks into the university's

line.

kathy

sharpeimom:paw::paw:

bookwormom · Nov 12, 2009

When I was a clinical instructor, I was paid as a full-time 51% employee. That meant I got benefits and was expected to be on campus or clinical 2 1/2 days/week. I taught a clinical group and taught a 3 credit class also. I was on committees as a full-time faculty member. I received 51% of a full-time salary. I believe my situation was relatively unusual , but I think it was fair.

(It was however, hard to change to full -time 100% status--took me years.)

When you talk about 9 and 12 months, there are two different issues:

1) Where I work, an employee can spread pay checks over 9 or 12 months on a 9 month contract. That means you get paid thru the summer, even if you're not working.

2) You can also have a 9, 10, or 12 month contract. that means you are working during the regular academic year and part of the summer.

In my experience, faculty salaries are pretty low compared to working for a health care institution. Still, I think the practice of paying clinical faculty a very low salary based on the number of hours they work in the clinical setting is a poor practice, and makes clinical faculty a separate group that really has less of a role in curriculum and policy development.