SIVACRACY.NET

This column describes a phenomenon that I am sure most non-law, non-medical professors have encountered: people outside academia assume that because we have advanced degrees we make what other professionals make. I frequently stun my professional friends (even those without advanced degrees) with the low salaries in our profession. I usually have to do this when explaining why tenure is so important to me: freedom to write and speak as I wish is how I get paid.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Trust Me, I'm a Doctor

By Pamela Johnston
First Person

Academics share their personal experiences

During a Democratic presidential debate earlier this year, the moderator, Charles Gibson of ABC News, inadvertently brought down the house when he suggested that a two-professor family might generate an annual income approaching $200,000.

The debate was hosted by St. Anselm College, a small, church-affiliated, liberal-arts institution that sounds a lot like the university where I am a faculty member. It didn't surprise me to discover -- as bloggers and reporters followed up on Gibson's gaffe -- that according to data from the American Association of University Professors, the average salary of an assistant professor at St. Anselm is $49,600. The only way a two-professor family at the college might even approach $200,000 in annual income is if they were both full professors, for whom the average salary in 2006-7 was $77,000.

I wasn't surprised by Gibson's assumption, either. Most of my own friends, neighbors, and family members initially believed that all college professors earned substantial salaries. When I try to explain why professors at small, private universities -- where tuition costs tend to be high -- usually earn significantly less than faculty members at more-affordable public universities, people shake their heads at the absurdity of academe.

My salary makes even less sense when people realize that my years of education don't really factor into the compensation I earn. Many university professors make less money than public-school teachers, most of whom haven't earned doctoral degrees. (Those in K-12 education who have earned Ph.D.'s have usually moved out of teaching and into administration.)

In the district where my children are enrolled, for example, a new teacher with a bachelor's degree and no full-time experience will earn a base salary just slightly lower than what I earn after nearly seven years of full-time teaching, three years of full-time administrative work in academic affairs, two master's degrees, and a Ph.D.

I'm not suggesting that public-school teachers should be paid less; I'm proud that teachers in my district earn a salary that shows how much the residents of our community respect the important service they provide.

But it seems absurd that after only a year of full-time experience, those who started teaching with a bachelor's degree this year -- some of whom were students in my classroom just a year ago -- will be making more money than I do now. In our neighboring school district, new teachers began their careers this year at a salary that exceeds mine. They are also guaranteed a standard raise for every year of experience they accumulate, which is not the case in higher education.

Many people don't know those figures. So the response I receive when I tell a new acquaintance that I'm a professor is invariably positive. Being a professor is apparently uncommon enough, and seems important enough, to merit admiration. ...