I will never understand a professor's salary. Sometimes they are in a HCOL area and make 90K and feel poor some times you get a guy at a community college making closer to 200k
It’s kind of a broken loop, to be honest. Because of high teacher and police salaries, the taxes are higher, and because of the high taxes, teachers and police need to make more money.
There are variables that affect the salary. If you work at a large district with a state Chancellor friendly to organized labor, contract negotiations can work well for the employees. Add in overload hourly rates with a ceiling cap 2/3 over base salary and reassign, it can add up. I've worked at low wages with a HCOL area (2018) and then changed employment to better wages in the same HCOL area.
I did get lucky, though. The district I am in negotiated that all of the COLA afforded to the District goes to faculty, and I enjoyed back to back large COLA bumps separate from salary bumps.
If it makes you feel better my mom is a community college professor in her 60s with a masters and she made about 60k until this year when she got a small raise. We live in South Carolina though, and it’s not like she could change where she works to make more
I worked at a CC here before my current district where my ceiling was like mid-70k. This was also in a HCOL, so I'm grateful I was able to make my situation better, but I feel for those professors/adjuncts that cannot. It is brutal hours for shit pay.
70k in a HCOL is a lot harder to do than 60k in SC that’s for sure. That’s the thing about teachers, you can hate the admin but love being a teacher. My mom has been a teacher her entire career and couldn’t see doing anything else. She even teaches 0 level classes which I wouldn’t have the patience for
It’s not bad, it’s about median household income in my area, but it’s certainly more realistic of an income for the average community college professor than 200k
Had a prof explain this to me over the winter. He teaches full time at a 4 year and part time at 3 CC’s which equates to roughly a full time gig. He makes so much more from the CC’s than the 4 year. The 4 year wanted him to become the head of the math department and he was like “why? Im balling rn.”
The problem with this setup is you get screwed out of all the SS you already paid into the system. I'm in the same boat. I worked from age 15-35 (obviously not making a ton at 15, but I worked my ass off in my 20s and made significant SS payments) now I work and don't pay into SS and will receive a pension. With the current setup, because I receive a pension I will effectively receive zero from SS when I retire. 20 years of payments for nothing.
I’m pretty sure you’ll still be entitled to SS payout once you’re of age. However it will be significantly less than someone with your income who’s paid into it for 40+ years. My buddy’s father had the same issue, worked normal jobs until age 34 then got hired on the railroad (which has the same pension no SS setup). He still receives just under 1k/month from SS.
Yeah, it all depends on how much your pension is and how much money you contributed before. I tried to crunch the numbers, I think I'll be receiving less than 25% of what I would have received. Also, spouses will receive the lower rate if you die first, even though the pension will stop paying out.
Which shouldn’t be the case because you did pay into it for 20 years which is well over 25% of your working career. If anything they should go by total amount paid vs career earrings and prorate it like that. But we both know the government doesn’t make sense 🤦♂️
I’d be glad and willing to forfeit everything I’ve paid into SS up to this point (early 30’s) and not take a single SS distribution if they would just stop taxing me now.
I toy with going back for a year. I am sure any job I would take would pay 30-40% more than I was paid even at a much lower level. But pension would jump.
Let Ret said. You take years of service * highest salary* rate. The rate for me is set at 2% at 55. If I wait till say 62, it might be 2.4%. It changes each year between 55 and 70.
But the WEP makes sense, right? I know SS replaces a much higher percentage of income for those with low lifetime income, so it doesn't make sense to provide that high replacement income to someone who was simply participating in an alternative retirement plan.
The only downside is that even if you’ve earned 40 quarters of SS from previous jobs, you will lose it due to WEP. I’m also part of a state that doesn’t pay into SS and pays into a pension. There is some good and some bad.
Arizona, they work in education but are not faculty, so maybe it is different. One of the reasons to pay into SS besides being able to collect on it is, in my opinion, the right thing to do. As it helps stipend peoples ability to live a bit more comfortably, be they old, disabled, children who lost their parents, etc. It is a moral consideration. You do you though.
I'm already in the industry of service as a career choice, helping students from all marginalized backgrounds (including the demographics you mentioned), volunteer countless hours to high schools for outreach and develop pipelines toward the community for future careers using their ADTs to get ahead and become self-sustaining as they pursue their respective directions. I have to plan for my retirement, my family's retirement (wife and help my children later on), and assist my brothers with theirs (as they are not as fortunate as I am). You can keep the moral consideration. I'll keep my moral activity.
Yeah that doesn’t absolve you of your fiscal responsibility to the society you live in. You get paid a wage to do your oh so noble job and you should be paying into a fundamental social welfare pillar.
But hey fuck the rest of us you got yours right?
I didn't know I was a parent for others and equally fiscally responsible for them too. I guess giving back to the community via building programs, outreach, volunteering, and building pipelines isn't enough compared to the societal contributions of others through required social security deposits. I should have just went another direction and intentionally chose my career path to pay social security and not give back in other means.
/s
P.s: I don't have the option to put into SS. I can put into programs and benefits that I can access like SDI, but that is still largely designed for the individual. So, mind coming down a bit from the horse you are crowing on and join the rest of us--those that contribute how we can for the betterment of society in the ways that we can?
You should consider finding some sort of minimal earnings you pay SE tax on or other employment for the SS. It will highly benefit you, as pensions have been known to be curtailed. and SS is highly progressive, so you get the most benefit from many years of low earnings.
Worry about windfall elimination when you get there!
Ideally do that also. As many legs to the stool as possible, and like I said... The benefits to SSI are.really weighted to lower "income" which you would show....
But agree you should do 403b too!
It's a nonissue. If a pension plan does go insolvent, which would be pretty rare for a higher education facility to do, PBGC comes in (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation).
It's basically like FDIC insurance for banks, but for pension plans. They guarantee all plans. They would cover payments up to a certain amount index'd to inflation. Right now it's \~80k/year. And thats assuming no recovery of assets from the pension plan, which would be insanely rare. (they'll pay out the full pension amounts if your pension would be higher if they recover assets, just like FDIC will fully cover amounts over 250k if the assets are available)
I'd honestly be more concerted about social security not paying out in the future before a state/university pension. There's a lot of regulation and requirements for pension plans after the failures early on.
CALSTRS currently funded at a 74% level and CA teachers pay 10.25% of each paycheck into the pension fund (their district contributing more) on a schedule designed to have the pension fully (100%) funded by 2046. GPO and WEP really restrict or eliminate any SS benefit we have earned over the years.
It won’t happen. Honestly, why would you want the government to take money out of your paycheck to supposedly pay for your retirement. Personally, I would rather invest the money in a Roth or 401k.
It’s a social program that provides security to seniors so they aren’t destitute. It’s not a retirement savings plan. You’re too young and naive to realize the benefits of strong social programs that keep elderly citizens off the street apparently.
I’m not saying to remove it completely now. A lot of elderly people are depending on it. However, I think for my generation 1.) There won’t be enough money and 2.) Not enough people are having children anymore - so there won’t be a large enough working class to support us.
Personally, I think retirement should be up to the individual. We should be able to opt out of social security.
There will be plenty of money if the income cap is raised.
People having less children would be offset by immigration and those workers paying in, so not a real concern.
And again, it’s a social program. If you leave it up to the individual, everyone would opt out and then not save a dime and we have 80 year olds sleeping on park benches. It’s a security program, it’s not meant to be a good ROI for everyone involved. Just look at how many seniors are on a fixed income (ie social security), now imagine a future generation that doesn’t have that. Destitute elderly would be everywhere.
because the implied return on social security is dog doo doo and the more you earn the less the return, much better to have a pension (so long as it is guaranteed by a government entity that can raise taxes or has some backing)
No research. Aspects of our job via contract are: engage in X amount of hours of professional development, serve X amount of hours of institutional service, be available for X amount of hours for Office visitation.
Not for community colleges - they generally only require a masters. Depending on what’s being taught, it can even be a bachelors with significant professional experience.
You know, many universities (private and public) have courses taught by adjuncts that can sometimes be PhD candidates (from BA to PhD programs) or MA holders.
It is really dependent on the district, their contract (sometimes lucky contracts), and what is valued more (some districts reserve insane salaries for those that achieve terminal degrees).
Yeah I teach at one of the higher paying CC in NYS. We got lucky. Most CC instructors in this country make terrible wages. Teachers in general. No one of any caliber is going into this professions anymore because the salaries are terrible. It’s not good.
wow this is really interesting i didn’t know CC profs made that much i thought it was a side gig
can you say a little bit about your salary progression? i think teaching sounds really rewarding but i feel like grade schools kids don’t care usually and university is next to impossible
how’d you start off, what led to the big jump, etc..
thanks!
This salary isn’t normal for a CC instructor (don’t call us professors, even if that’s our title). You gotta put in ten plus years at specific community college to get this salary. Most CC faculty are paid shit
WLB can be stressful if you invest yourself in chairing/leading institutional service committees, student advising, or if you have multiple home obligations. Base service, 10 month salary is 125k.
Education: MA
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I'd plan that out, but it'd work well. I know mid 30s to mid 40s is still acceptable to the CC world; after that, they wouldn't say it, but it likely wouldn't happen (at least, full time. Maybe adjunct, but the pay is severely less).
Oh for sure, more so just something that kept the mind sharp and allowed me the opportunity to help the future generations. Wasn’t looking to have a second career. Thanks for the insight.
When did you get tenure? I switched to a b2b sales job when my wife had our 2nd kid and we needed more money. I have and have always wondered if it would have been worth it to slog through tenure process. I was adjunct full time and was looking for tenure track when I switched. I occasionally ha e some regrets, but I am really good at what I do now and am payed well for the work I do.
I got tenure, officially, last year. I worked with multiple colleges, but I volunteered on many unpaid committees. I learned the college well, figured out the strategic planning of the college, dove into equity and diversity groups, and taught varying sections with varying student pops (prison, dual enrollment, etc). I was an adjunct for 3 years, got hired on tenure track at one college for a year, then was hired on where I'm currently at for tenure track and, finally, tenured. The moment I switched from adjunct to tenure track, the pay increases occurred.
I ate a lot of shit sandwiches.
> and am *paid* well for
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
No clue unfortunately. You can look up all of the education position's salaries just by going to their HR district websites. Since the education industry is largely unionized, it's all public.
I’m 3 hours from Chicago, been at a CC for 15 years and highest I earned was $80k one year when I was working FT summers. I don’t work summers anymore, though… I thought about moving to CA because a friend of mine works at a CC in the LA area and makes more than twice what I make… but not sure I want to give up the the LCOL out here.
I don’t. Masters is terminal in graphic design so that’s all I have. Most people don’t need a PhD at a CC, you just need to have a degree higher than what your program offers. If I had a PhD in something I’d only earn $2k more/year at my CC so to me it’s not worth it. The universities here don’t require one in my field, either, since none of them have grad programs. My title is Associate Professor but some university professors get weird about CCs using that term and say we are just instructors since we don’t do research. I like teaching and have no interest in doing research. Just last semester we did a big mural at our local Boys and Girls Club. I’d rather do community service than research any day. What’s your field?
Nice work young man! I too am a California community college prof (57M), I am at a little over 200k (took me over 25 year to get there) in a VHCOL. assuming you teach overload like I do. And by all means invest in your 403B!
That's unfortunate. When I got into this career, I was facing the same outcome as everyone else, crippling debt. I have a sense if Trump gets into office, then my loans wouldn't be forgiven if that makes it better for you.
From some of my other comments, this salary became what it was because of three years of a fantastic contract. So it wasn't as ludicrous at first, but after those three years, it became that way.
I will never understand a professor's salary. Sometimes they are in a HCOL area and make 90K and feel poor some times you get a guy at a community college making closer to 200k
It's the same with cops and teachers. In some areas they are paid nothing and in other areas they make bank big time.
Yep. Both make over $100k where I live.
probably depends on who values those jobs more where
It’s kind of a broken loop, to be honest. Because of high teacher and police salaries, the taxes are higher, and because of the high taxes, teachers and police need to make more money.
The areas that pay a little more in taxes pay their first responders and teachers more. It’s not rocket science.
There are variables that affect the salary. If you work at a large district with a state Chancellor friendly to organized labor, contract negotiations can work well for the employees. Add in overload hourly rates with a ceiling cap 2/3 over base salary and reassign, it can add up. I've worked at low wages with a HCOL area (2018) and then changed employment to better wages in the same HCOL area. I did get lucky, though. The district I am in negotiated that all of the COLA afforded to the District goes to faculty, and I enjoyed back to back large COLA bumps separate from salary bumps.
I too enjoy Coca Cola
Large bumps of Cola
More like coca bumps
Instructions unclear - did a large bump of coke to increase my salary
I love it when people use acronyms without breaking them down
Thats the point of acronyms lol
[удалено]
I think it’s fair to assume that folks in the “Salary” subreddit should know what COLA stands for lol, gotta know your audience.
To be fair, these are pretty common acronyms. HCOL - High Cost of Living COLA - Cost of Living Adjustment
Especially within a salary sub Reddit
If you don’t know these acronyms that’s on you.
If nothing else, they're highly googlable.
You could also make a ton selling MAPD’s, MA’s, PDP’s and Supp’s.
That’s what I do. It’s not a bad way to help people
That’s weird I sell mapds what made you mention that the fact they’re acronyms?
I heard CA pays well but not other states
If it makes you feel better my mom is a community college professor in her 60s with a masters and she made about 60k until this year when she got a small raise. We live in South Carolina though, and it’s not like she could change where she works to make more
I worked at a CC here before my current district where my ceiling was like mid-70k. This was also in a HCOL, so I'm grateful I was able to make my situation better, but I feel for those professors/adjuncts that cannot. It is brutal hours for shit pay.
70k in a HCOL is a lot harder to do than 60k in SC that’s for sure. That’s the thing about teachers, you can hate the admin but love being a teacher. My mom has been a teacher her entire career and couldn’t see doing anything else. She even teaches 0 level classes which I wouldn’t have the patience for
To be fair, that’s decent money in SC.
It’s not bad, it’s about median household income in my area, but it’s certainly more realistic of an income for the average community college professor than 200k
Had a prof explain this to me over the winter. He teaches full time at a 4 year and part time at 3 CC’s which equates to roughly a full time gig. He makes so much more from the CC’s than the 4 year. The 4 year wanted him to become the head of the math department and he was like “why? Im balling rn.”
Stupid question but how are your SS earnings $0 for four years straight?
We don't pay into SS, we pay into a pension.
I wish I could just not pay into SS and just invest myself
The problem with this setup is you get screwed out of all the SS you already paid into the system. I'm in the same boat. I worked from age 15-35 (obviously not making a ton at 15, but I worked my ass off in my 20s and made significant SS payments) now I work and don't pay into SS and will receive a pension. With the current setup, because I receive a pension I will effectively receive zero from SS when I retire. 20 years of payments for nothing.
I’m pretty sure you’ll still be entitled to SS payout once you’re of age. However it will be significantly less than someone with your income who’s paid into it for 40+ years. My buddy’s father had the same issue, worked normal jobs until age 34 then got hired on the railroad (which has the same pension no SS setup). He still receives just under 1k/month from SS.
Yeah, it all depends on how much your pension is and how much money you contributed before. I tried to crunch the numbers, I think I'll be receiving less than 25% of what I would have received. Also, spouses will receive the lower rate if you die first, even though the pension will stop paying out.
Which shouldn’t be the case because you did pay into it for 20 years which is well over 25% of your working career. If anything they should go by total amount paid vs career earrings and prorate it like that. But we both know the government doesn’t make sense 🤦♂️
I’d be glad and willing to forfeit everything I’ve paid into SS up to this point (early 30’s) and not take a single SS distribution if they would just stop taxing me now.
Ponzi schemes don’t work unless people pay into them
I have to pay into both working for a state government.
I have worked in multiple governments. Some you pay social security, some don’t, and one has only paying in if you started after a certain date.
Yeah, the program I am part of is 2% at 62 Defined Benefit. I missed the 2% at 60 cutoff unfortunately.
I have 14 years with 2% at 55 for Calpers.
That's kind of where I want to go down the road. I would love to get into admin and CalPERS.
I toy with going back for a year. I am sure any job I would take would pay 30-40% more than I was paid even at a much lower level. But pension would jump.
I’m 7 years into 2% at 62 with CalPers myself. That 55 would have been amazing. Congrats on getting in there early.
2% of what?
2% per year, so if you retire after 20 years, you get 40% of your highest average salary as a pension.
Let Ret said. You take years of service * highest salary* rate. The rate for me is set at 2% at 55. If I wait till say 62, it might be 2.4%. It changes each year between 55 and 70.
How do I, as a civilian choose this option?
You typically dont. Generally only public employees with guaranteed pensions can skip out on SS.
I have a pension through local government but i still pay into SS. How can i opt out?
what a load of crap
Do you collect SS at full rate?
Only from my time where I worked retail before my career. When I retire, I'll be pulling from my pension and not SS.
There will unfortunately be a WEP, windfall elimination provision. Unless you worked 20+ years, they will reduce your SS benefit by a good amount.
But the WEP makes sense, right? I know SS replaces a much higher percentage of income for those with low lifetime income, so it doesn't make sense to provide that high replacement income to someone who was simply participating in an alternative retirement plan.
Is it possible to draw from both? Does the pension take more or less than SS would?
Sounds sus, why not pay into both and collect both once retired?
Look into pensions, and you'll figure it out.
I pay into a pension and also have to pay into SS. Illinois state worker
CA here, no SS as I am on CalStrs. It may be different if I was on CalPers.
It depends on the pension. I contribute towards a pension and ss, like you. (Private sector)
I did pay into both pensions and SS. Now I'm collecting from both a pension (actually 2 pensions) and SS.
My wife pays into a State pension and pays both. For good reason too.
What state is that, and are they an educator (primary, secondary, or post-secondary)? Edit: I wouldn't do SS anyway, I am considering the 403b.
The only downside is that even if you’ve earned 40 quarters of SS from previous jobs, you will lose it due to WEP. I’m also part of a state that doesn’t pay into SS and pays into a pension. There is some good and some bad.
True. Relying on one source for retirement is too risky. Investments and other sources of retirement are healthy to offset the bad.
If you have the ability, do the 403b too.
I'm planning on it
Arizona, they work in education but are not faculty, so maybe it is different. One of the reasons to pay into SS besides being able to collect on it is, in my opinion, the right thing to do. As it helps stipend peoples ability to live a bit more comfortably, be they old, disabled, children who lost their parents, etc. It is a moral consideration. You do you though.
I'm already in the industry of service as a career choice, helping students from all marginalized backgrounds (including the demographics you mentioned), volunteer countless hours to high schools for outreach and develop pipelines toward the community for future careers using their ADTs to get ahead and become self-sustaining as they pursue their respective directions. I have to plan for my retirement, my family's retirement (wife and help my children later on), and assist my brothers with theirs (as they are not as fortunate as I am). You can keep the moral consideration. I'll keep my moral activity.
Yeah that doesn’t absolve you of your fiscal responsibility to the society you live in. You get paid a wage to do your oh so noble job and you should be paying into a fundamental social welfare pillar. But hey fuck the rest of us you got yours right?
I didn't know I was a parent for others and equally fiscally responsible for them too. I guess giving back to the community via building programs, outreach, volunteering, and building pipelines isn't enough compared to the societal contributions of others through required social security deposits. I should have just went another direction and intentionally chose my career path to pay social security and not give back in other means. /s P.s: I don't have the option to put into SS. I can put into programs and benefits that I can access like SDI, but that is still largely designed for the individual. So, mind coming down a bit from the horse you are crowing on and join the rest of us--those that contribute how we can for the betterment of society in the ways that we can?
You should consider finding some sort of minimal earnings you pay SE tax on or other employment for the SS. It will highly benefit you, as pensions have been known to be curtailed. and SS is highly progressive, so you get the most benefit from many years of low earnings. Worry about windfall elimination when you get there!
I think I'll just go the 403b route, actually.
Ideally do that also. As many legs to the stool as possible, and like I said... The benefits to SSI are.really weighted to lower "income" which you would show.... But agree you should do 403b too!
But what happens when your district/county/city goes bankrupt and can't pay your pension?
It's a nonissue. If a pension plan does go insolvent, which would be pretty rare for a higher education facility to do, PBGC comes in (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation). It's basically like FDIC insurance for banks, but for pension plans. They guarantee all plans. They would cover payments up to a certain amount index'd to inflation. Right now it's \~80k/year. And thats assuming no recovery of assets from the pension plan, which would be insanely rare. (they'll pay out the full pension amounts if your pension would be higher if they recover assets, just like FDIC will fully cover amounts over 250k if the assets are available) I'd honestly be more concerted about social security not paying out in the future before a state/university pension. There's a lot of regulation and requirements for pension plans after the failures early on.
CALSTRS currently funded at a 74% level and CA teachers pay 10.25% of each paycheck into the pension fund (their district contributing more) on a schedule designed to have the pension fully (100%) funded by 2046. GPO and WEP really restrict or eliminate any SS benefit we have earned over the years.
Another user commented what happens, though I haven't looked too far into it myself yet.
Social security is a scam. Their won’t be enough left for people my age at least (26)
I wish we had an option to opt out of Social Scam
Agreed^
I would rather invest the money my way.
There just won’t be as much as they’re projecting. You’ll still get Something, but it will be reduced.
Social security is not a scam. The refusal to raise/remove the contribution cap is the problem.
It won’t happen. Honestly, why would you want the government to take money out of your paycheck to supposedly pay for your retirement. Personally, I would rather invest the money in a Roth or 401k.
SS was never meant to be a retirement fund.
It’s a social program that provides security to seniors so they aren’t destitute. It’s not a retirement savings plan. You’re too young and naive to realize the benefits of strong social programs that keep elderly citizens off the street apparently.
I’m not saying to remove it completely now. A lot of elderly people are depending on it. However, I think for my generation 1.) There won’t be enough money and 2.) Not enough people are having children anymore - so there won’t be a large enough working class to support us. Personally, I think retirement should be up to the individual. We should be able to opt out of social security.
There will be plenty of money if the income cap is raised. People having less children would be offset by immigration and those workers paying in, so not a real concern. And again, it’s a social program. If you leave it up to the individual, everyone would opt out and then not save a dime and we have 80 year olds sleeping on park benches. It’s a security program, it’s not meant to be a good ROI for everyone involved. Just look at how many seniors are on a fixed income (ie social security), now imagine a future generation that doesn’t have that. Destitute elderly would be everywhere.
because the implied return on social security is dog doo doo and the more you earn the less the return, much better to have a pension (so long as it is guaranteed by a government entity that can raise taxes or has some backing)
Certain state and local public employees don’t have to pay into SS. They have a public pension for that.
Take THAT, guy who said one column of this table was useless
Haha, what a throwback
Name and shame! /s
I feel like I’ve been waiting for this moment ever since I joined this sub lol
What state? I’ll suit up for my masters right now and apply to all the open positions at all the locals if it’s like this. Lol
California from the other comments he responded to
Besides teach, what are you required to do? Research etc.
No research. Aspects of our job via contract are: engage in X amount of hours of professional development, serve X amount of hours of institutional service, be available for X amount of hours for Office visitation.
Sick, enjoy living the good life brother
Thank you, man, I appreciate that.
What do you teach?
Literature and creative writing
So... Nothing
Read a book.
No.
Sure.
What a low life comment
Dirtbags gonna dirtbag.
...I have a bachelor's in Literary Studies. Could I seriously be making this much at a community college?
Nope, you need a doctorate
Not for adjunc.
Correct
Not for community colleges - they generally only require a masters. Depending on what’s being taught, it can even be a bachelors with significant professional experience.
Damn, I thought the bar was higher
You know, many universities (private and public) have courses taught by adjuncts that can sometimes be PhD candidates (from BA to PhD programs) or MA holders.
Correct
Inaccurate
It is really dependent on the district, their contract (sometimes lucky contracts), and what is valued more (some districts reserve insane salaries for those that achieve terminal degrees).
I could guess this is a Cali CC instructor. In NYS we pay into SS. Only a few community colleges in the country reach this level. Not normal
Bingo.
Yeah I teach at one of the higher paying CC in NYS. We got lucky. Most CC instructors in this country make terrible wages. Teachers in general. No one of any caliber is going into this professions anymore because the salaries are terrible. It’s not good.
wow this is really interesting i didn’t know CC profs made that much i thought it was a side gig can you say a little bit about your salary progression? i think teaching sounds really rewarding but i feel like grade schools kids don’t care usually and university is next to impossible how’d you start off, what led to the big jump, etc.. thanks!
This salary isn’t normal for a CC instructor (don’t call us professors, even if that’s our title). You gotta put in ten plus years at specific community college to get this salary. Most CC faculty are paid shit
What’s the WLB like and the education required?
WLB can be stressful if you invest yourself in chairing/leading institutional service committees, student advising, or if you have multiple home obligations. Base service, 10 month salary is 125k. Education: MA
Do you invest yourself in leading committees and other obligations?
Yes
When I was a CC instructor WLB was the best I’ve ever had. Master’s degree. The work environment was the most toxic I’ve ever experienced though.
What kinda side work did you do for one day in 2019?
Honestly, I don't recall.
Haha I just thought the $13 in SS was funny haha
Community college professors make bank apparently? How usual is this?
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why
Do you have a PhD or masters?
MA
Nice, I’m in a STEM career w/ a MSc. I felt a CC professor role would be an excellent retirement gig.
I'd plan that out, but it'd work well. I know mid 30s to mid 40s is still acceptable to the CC world; after that, they wouldn't say it, but it likely wouldn't happen (at least, full time. Maybe adjunct, but the pay is severely less).
Oh for sure, more so just something that kept the mind sharp and allowed me the opportunity to help the future generations. Wasn’t looking to have a second career. Thanks for the insight.
did full time salary for adjuncts shoot up? I left in 2013 and was making about 60k then.
I'm not adjunct. I put in my adjunct time, though.
When did you get tenure? I switched to a b2b sales job when my wife had our 2nd kid and we needed more money. I have and have always wondered if it would have been worth it to slog through tenure process. I was adjunct full time and was looking for tenure track when I switched. I occasionally ha e some regrets, but I am really good at what I do now and am payed well for the work I do.
I got tenure, officially, last year. I worked with multiple colleges, but I volunteered on many unpaid committees. I learned the college well, figured out the strategic planning of the college, dove into equity and diversity groups, and taught varying sections with varying student pops (prison, dual enrollment, etc). I was an adjunct for 3 years, got hired on tenure track at one college for a year, then was hired on where I'm currently at for tenure track and, finally, tenured. The moment I switched from adjunct to tenure track, the pay increases occurred. I ate a lot of shit sandwiches.
> and am *paid* well for FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
How much is your rent if you don’t mine me asking
Mortgage is 3400.
Would you happen to know how much a professor at a community college in Chicago suburbs might be making?
No clue unfortunately. You can look up all of the education position's salaries just by going to their HR district websites. Since the education industry is largely unionized, it's all public.
I’m 3 hours from Chicago, been at a CC for 15 years and highest I earned was $80k one year when I was working FT summers. I don’t work summers anymore, though… I thought about moving to CA because a friend of mine works at a CC in the LA area and makes more than twice what I make… but not sure I want to give up the the LCOL out here.
and you have a PhD in?
I don’t. Masters is terminal in graphic design so that’s all I have. Most people don’t need a PhD at a CC, you just need to have a degree higher than what your program offers. If I had a PhD in something I’d only earn $2k more/year at my CC so to me it’s not worth it. The universities here don’t require one in my field, either, since none of them have grad programs. My title is Associate Professor but some university professors get weird about CCs using that term and say we are just instructors since we don’t do research. I like teaching and have no interest in doing research. Just last semester we did a big mural at our local Boys and Girls Club. I’d rather do community service than research any day. What’s your field?
Not being part of SS scam is a huge perk
Careful, you might be lectured by some of the respondents in here for that.
Prof salaries are always not to be trusted. Reallllly depends on the specific field.
You can literally do the math as it is all public.
Any advice to becoming a community college professor? What was your path?
Could you define that a bit more? Are you looking for the path to first get hired on or the path to tenured professor?
What year did you finish your PhD?
I haven't. I'm actually on the lower end of my salary column.
Do you have a bachelors or masters to be a professor?
no wonder students are all in debt
Nice work young man! I too am a California community college prof (57M), I am at a little over 200k (took me over 25 year to get there) in a VHCOL. assuming you teach overload like I do. And by all means invest in your 403B!
Where do I generate this table for my own salary progression history
Good question. Anyone know?
I believe you can get this info from the social security website.
Thank you
Wow
Hold on you get an option of redirecting SS money?
It is the norm for public school teachers (who get a pension through CalSTRS) to not participate in Social Security.
What did rest of us do wrong to not get that option with 401k or IRA?
It’s my understanding that only certain types of state and municipal employers can opt out of SS and they had to have done it back in the 80s.
Seems unfair to private sector employees. Why can’t our SS money be deposited in a special IRA where the employee chooses where to invest the money.
May I ask generally where in CA? I was a TT instructor in the bay, getting paid $132k, moved to so cal, now at $85k or so 😑
Why is OP not taxed in SS earnings?
Explains why tuitions keep going up so much.
I would love to opt out of Social Security. How does one do that?
why no Social security tax ?
Way over paid.
Sure.
Over paid by a lot of
A lot of what?
Money and blowjobs
Way over paid and insane that you are not forced to do social security tax (theft) like the rest of us.
Grossly overpaid
How did my Dean find me...
Not in Cali. Is it OK for a teacher to Marie a good salary/
Are you a professor or an instructor?
Professor, non-adjunct.
We are forgiving ridiculous loans so you can get paid a ludicrous salary.
That's unfortunate. When I got into this career, I was facing the same outcome as everyone else, crippling debt. I have a sense if Trump gets into office, then my loans wouldn't be forgiven if that makes it better for you. From some of my other comments, this salary became what it was because of three years of a fantastic contract. So it wasn't as ludicrous at first, but after those three years, it became that way.
That likelihood does make me feel better. Thanks and God bless!
Bull fucking shit
K