Part-time Faculty Struggle Amid Cuts in State Funding

Adjunct faculty members around the state are getting some serious lessons in the pitfalls of being part of a contingent workforce within an educational system that doesn’t seem to care if it delivers. While students continue to lose out on their educational aspirations because they are not able to enroll in the classes they need, part-time faculty are beginning to question their own career choice and any possibility of a tenure track future.

State categorical funding in the areas of medical benefits, office hours, and parity pay for part-time faculty has been reduced to a paltry amount. At the same time, state monies for many college programs, for inflationary increases and for the growth in the student population have also been cut. This perfect storm of economic strife has landed on the doorstep of adjunct faculty and their students.

As part-time faculty are being called upon to assess student work more carefully in light of SLOs, the parity pay that was meant to pay for this grading work is being reduced by half. While full-time faculty struggle to fill in the gaps in the college workforce left by a raft of retirees, part-time faculty are being encouraged to step up and help out wherever possible. Course levels are being combined to help maintain departmental program integrity as sections are decreased. This creates more uncompensated preparation and assessment work on the part of adjunct faculty, who must teach several graduated lesson plans during a single class period and provide different assignments within a single class.

While course sections at GCC have only been reduced by a small degree during regular semesters, the winter session has been cut by 30%. Part-time faculty who have grown to depend on intersession work (where there is no 67% load limitation) are finding that short session assignments are no longer available to them. This cut in earning power is a substantial hardship to many. Other adjunct faculty are just glad if they can hang on to their district group medical benefits, but they fear that a last minute cut in spring classes could drop them below the 40% load necessary to gain access to this benefit. It is clear to part-time faculty that the right to take on extra overload assignments is a contractual perk available to full-time faculty; however, there is the hope that full-time faculty will consider the plight of their part-time colleagues and give up extra overload classes during these difficult times.

It is easy to look around and see that everyone is worried and feeling the pressures from this economic downturn. However, “freeway flyers” who make their living teaching at a number of colleges are getting the rug pulled out from under them—sometimes in several districts at the same time. Getting advance notice of assignments and being able to count on future health benefits, income and a stable teaching schedule goes a long way toward allowing part-time faculty to be involved at their college and available to meet the needs of students. As adjunct faculty find it necessary to take on a second or third job, the dream of a full-time teaching career appears as a vanishing possibility. Educational preparation toward achieving that goal may be put on hold as the cost of a doctorate degree is weighed against future job market prospects. Some may choose to leave teaching in pursuit of a more stable, well-paying job or a career that provides benefits. This would be unfortunate for the college and its students. Experienced faculty members who know this community of learners are always better at imparting knowledge effectively. Although finding a new cadre of part-time faculty with the correct minimum qualifications may not be difficult, bringing those teachers up to speed on how to impart their knowledge is another matter that only years of classroom experience can provide. Hopefully, Glendale College will keep the wonderful group of adjunct faculty that it has nurtured and trained so that future students can benefit and thrive, just as our past graduates have.

back to top