Full Time Faculty Teaching Loads Versus Use of Part Time Professors

            Faculty at a typical research institution split their time between teaching, research, working on publications and serving as principal investigator on research grants (Fairweather and Beach, 2002). In a study of 1518 full-time faculty in research universities, they spent an average of 40% of their time teaching students. These faculty members averaged 7.12 hours in the classroom per week in the classroom. The remaining time was spent on publications and serving as principal investigator on grants.

            Professors can take steps to reduce their teaching loads. For example, professors may buy out teaching time if they are awarded a grant that requires their time to administer. The grant may also provide financial support to the institution and professor. In certain circumstances, professors can also bank extra courses and receive a semester free from teaching. While these are great perks for the professors, the courses still exist and students need to be taught. To meet this need, many institutions turn to part time faculty and/or instructors to fill gaps in teaching needs. On the surface, it appears that utilizing adjunct professors is a great idea. They can be paid on an hourly rate and do not receive health benefits. Further, they can be hired on an as needed basis and thus are not part of the institution’s base budget. Part time faculty can also be used to fill gaps in the curriculum and provide teachers with current, relevant, practical experience in a particular discipline. Instructors are categorized slightly different and may be hired on an annual basis and may teach more than one course each semester. Instructors are typically paid less than professors and may have a lower educational level. For example, at the University of Memphis, instructors average $40,000 per year compared to the average salary of an associate professor which is $64,664 (Office of Institutional Research, 2011).

            The problem arises when the amount of teaching done by full time faculty shrinks and the number of part time faculty grows. For example, the University of Memphis is a research institution and it has 812 faculty members, 540 part time faculty members and 110 instructors/lecturers (Office of Institutional Research, 2011). Part time faculty may not receive the same teacher training as full time professors. For example, they may not attend faculty meetings where teaching strategies are discussed, they may not be familiar with institutional goals regarding student retention, and may not be readily available to students. Some may argue that the quality of teaching by part time instructors is less than the quality of teaching provided by full time faculty. Both full time and part time faculty may be subject to student evaluations; however the part time professor has another position and thus may not place the same emphasis on the student evaluations as the full time professor.

Further, part time professors cost the institution additional fiscal resources. In many cases, the institution is already paying the professor who may be teaching only one or two courses. On top of that cost, institutions are paying part time instructors. For example at the University of Memphis, 263 associate professors earn an average of $64,664 for a total cost to the institution of $17M. Additionally the institution pays 108 instructors $40,000 for a total of $4,320,000 (Office of Institutional Research, 2011). Finally the institution pays 540 instructors. Using a conservative estimate that part time faculty is paid $1000 per hour; the cost to the institution for a three credit course is $3000. Assuming the part time faculty only teaches one 3-hour course, the additional amount spent by the institution is $1,620,000 for part time instruction.  If part time faculty teaches two 3 hour courses the total is $3,240,000. An estimate of the total funds needed for instructors and part time instruction is $5,940,000 - $7,560,000. As state appropriations are being reduced, a funding gap exists. This causes a cost disease as students are being asked to make up the gap by paying increasing tuition and fees to pay for part time instructors who may not provide them with the same quality of instruction as full time faculty (National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, 2008). By reducing the number of part time faculty and increasing the number of courses taught by full time professors, institutions may reduce cost disease and increase the quality of instruction provided to students.

References

Fairweather, J. S. and Beach, A. L. (2002). Variations in faculty work at research universities: Implications for state and institutional policies. The Review of Higher Education, 26(1), 97-115. Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/review_of_higher_education/v026/26.1fairweather.pdf.

National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (2008). University tuition, consumer choice and college affordability. Retrieved from https://www.aplu.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=1296.

Office of Institutional Research (2011). Full-time faculty by faculty rank, faculty type, and contract length - fall 2010. Retrieved from http://oir.memphis.edu/WebReports/FacultyAndStaff/EmployeeFactbookFall2010.pdf.

Office of Institutional Research (2011). Salaries of full-time faculty by college, and faculty rank - fall 2010. Retrieved from http://oir.memphis.edu/WebReports/FacultyAndStaff/EmployeeFactbookFall2010.pdf.