Salaries of College Professors

Salaries of college professors are not uniform norand, thus, professor salaries are higher to reflect
are they predictable. There are many factors thatthis. The final factor that can affect salary level is
can affect a college professor's salary. As ourthe field that you are in. Some fields such as
Mother's kept telling us when we were growingScience, English, History, and the Social Sciences
up, the more education you have, the morehave stable enrollments while other fields such as
money you can make. This is certainly true inCriminal Justice, Business, Nursing, and Education
academia.are in demand. Thus, a premium may be paid to
Most schools pay a premium to individuals whothose who are able to teach in these fields.
hold a doctorate or other terminal degrees. InThese factors are taken into consideration by
fact, many of the better schools do not evensurveys done by the American Association of
consider individuals who are not doctorates. Thus,University Professors (AAUP) and can be found
a doctoral degree makes it easier to obtainat. These surveys included the average salaries
academic jobs as well as paying more. Having afor full-time professors, the average faculty
doctoral degree allows an individual to teachsalary by institution, and the average faculty
graduate as well as undergraduate classes while asalary in selected fields. These surveys were
master's degree will allow an individual to teach onpublished in The Chronicle of Higher Education at:
the undergraduate level. Graduate courses areSalaries for part-time professors appear to
remunerated at a higher rate than that forfluctuate more than that for full-time professors.
undergraduate ones. Another factor affectingUnfortunately, the AAUP did not take into
salaries of college professors is experience andconsideration the salaries of part-time professors.
longevity at an institution. As in any business, theCurrently, there are no reliable data regarding
longer you remain employed in a particularadjunct salaries. However, the same factors that
institution, the higher the salary becomes. Somegovern the salaries of college professors is also
regions of the country have a higher cost-of-livingapplicable to that of adjuncts.