The other day while I was attending the Paradise Valley and Phoenix College adjunct orientation meetings, I felt like a country bumpkin, in my Costco jeans and old B’Gauze no-iron cotton tunic. The faculty women there were dressed to the nines, in expensive-looking suits and separates with notably handsome shirts, and sporting pricey-looking haircuts and dye jobs. I was dressed to work in the garden.
Well. There’s a reason for that. Sunday I came across an ad for a new hire in English at Glendale Community College. Starting pay for someone like me—with a Ph.D. and 15 years of teaching experience (to say nothing of 20 years of real-world experience)—is $80,631. Yeah: starting pay. On a nine-month contract. Today I earn 15 grand less than that on a twelve-month contract. On her nine-month contract, La Maya, who is tenured and one of her college’s heaviest-hitting grant-grabbers, earns about $2,500 more than I do.
And when I was teaching at GDU, I earned about $43,500. If you prorated my present hourly pay over 9 months instead of 12, I’d be earning a grandiose $48,750, which is about what I’d be earning if I’d stayed as a full-time nontenure-track lecturer at the West campus instead of moving into a 12-month quasi-administrative position on the Main campus.
It’s not like the teaching load was any different. GDU’s full-time adjunct slaves teach 4 and 4, with writing courses capped at 30 (although one semester the department gave overrides behind my back and I ended up with 42 students in a technical writing course). Full-time community college faculty teach 5 and 5, but at PVCC (for example) writing classes are capped at 25.
4 classes x 30 students = 120 students
5 classes x 25 students = 125 students
Huh. So five more students means a $31,881 raise in pay, eh?
No wonder those women dress like a million dollars. They don’t have to wear dungarees and washable pullovers from Costco! They can afford to buy decent clothes.
I feel like a chump. I should have applied for every. single. opening the District advertised from the day I walked onto the West campus, punch-drunk from a divorce and thrilled to have a job, any job.
Takeaway message: Never consider your job permanent. Start looking for something better from the moment you’re hired. LOL! Especially if it looks like the competition’s people dress better than you do!
😛
My mother-in-law who taught at a community college (with MA) made more and had better benefits than her husband, who taught at a Cal State (and had a PhD). She had a very powerful union. All the money went to salary/benefits–very poor facilities, no xerox machines, no ac. Also, very few full-time new hires. Many were adjuncts at truly pitiful pay and no benefits.
To them that have, more shall be given….
@ frugalscholar: Interestingly, the community colleges here seem to be better funded for amenities. PVCC has a copy center that kindly cranked out fifty 16-page syllabi. The library facility is awesome. They have a Blackboard system that puts GDU’s to shame: if there’s a bell or a whistle to be had, the District’s version has got it.
Many of the campuses are fairly new, and they’re coherently built and beautifully designed. PVCC feels like a small liberal-arts college. It’s very pleasant and inviting. They even have…get this!!!…a “meditation garden”! OMG!
When I have a few minutes, I’ll photograph it or maybe even try to draw it. Defies belief!