Across the state
Words by Marissa Barnhart
“I’m self-employed. That’s where I make my money, honey,” she said, flicking her wrist for emphasis. Donna Oberlin, an adjunct professor of music and piano accompanist at Kent State, said she’s lucky to be in her situation.
“I teach privately,” Oberlin said of her private piano lesson business. “I would advise anyone with a skill like that to start their own business because of the lack of job security.”
Oberlin is one of thousands of adjunct professors employed to teach courses for a low salary. She said one of the problems is that universities are no longer focused on students or education.
“I consider it a corporation because of where they’re putting their priorities,” Oberlin said. “I don’t see them putting the students first. It’s mainly about lining their pockets. It’s almost like a business model.”
Find out what university employees are making at the University of Akron, Bowling Green State University, University of Cincinnati, Kent State University and Miami University.
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She said she often hears the argument that in order to provide a strong education, universities have to retain the best teachers, and to retain the best teachers, they need to be paid.
But adjunct professors can only work so many hours at a university. By law, if an employee works more than 28 hours, the employer has to provide health care. To avoid this, universities have put a cap on how many hours adjunct professors are able to work. Because of this, many adjuncts will teach at multiple universities to try to increase the amount of money they bring in.
Oberlin, who said she’s lucky because she’s under a two-income household and is on her husband’s health plan. But she and her husband sometimes argue about whether her job is worth it.
“One semester, I logged my hours just for the hell of it, how many times I rehearsed and recitals–I was making $5 an hour,” Oberlin said. “He sees what I’m doing and he’s like, ‘You’re being taken advantage of.’ ”
Oberlin justifies her position as an adjunct because of the atmosphere, and she loves her students. What scares her is the lack of security in her job.
“At any point they could say goodbye. They don’t have to give me a reason,” she said.
Judith Nicely, an adjunct professor at the University of Akron and retired judge said she could never make a living off of her teacher’s salary.
“I think of this as pretty much a volunteer position that you take and its just a small stipend you receive,” she said.
At the University of Cincinnati, adjunct professors are broken into three tiers: term adjunct, annual adjunct and represented adjunct. These tiers determine how many hours they’re allowed to work. Term adjuncts can work up to 8 credits, annual adjuncts can work between 8 and 11 credits and represented adjuncts can work between 11 and 17 credits.
Jeff Robinson, the Director of Communications for the Ohio Department of Higher Education said it’s up to the university to decide what to implement and how to accommodate adjunct professors, including salaries. He said it’s an “issue between the individual institutional leadership and the faculty.”
Oberlin said she’s gone to the chairperson in her department and asked for a raised, but saw no results.
“I was basically told that there’s a budget. You’re just a budget,” she said. “Frankly, I’d take a job that pays dirt than a job at McDonald’s.”
