faculty salary

According to a University of Phoenix FAQ I received, the University of Phoenix Faculty Pay & Compensation Plan is as follows for the Columbus GA local campus. (I would be surprised if compensation does not vary from state to state or even city to city. I speculate compensation is higher in larger cities and high cost-of-living areas but the overall structure is likely to be the same.)

Payment is disbursed into two payments of 66% and 34% respectively. The first payment is issued after they have met the 1st week of attendance in class. The final payment is issued after the faculty has posted final grade upon completion of the course.

If you have a PhD, you will be on a different and higher compensation plan than if you “only” have a Masters degree.

For faculty with Masters degrees, the compensation schedule is listed below.

For undergraduate courses that have 5-week terms and 3 credits:

• Starting pay is: $1,015.
• After 1 year & 5 courses: You get a whopping $36 increase to $1,051.
• After 3 years & 7 courses: You get a whopping $74 increase to $1,125.

Each of those sessions meet for 4-hours each. That means a total of 20 classroom hours.

Assuming you put in an average of 4 hours of course prep, follow-up, and grading work per week, you will be putting in a total of 40 work-related hours during the term. Taking the math further out, it comes out to a little more than $25/hour starting out and a little more than $28/hour at the top of the scale. All of this is considered W-2 taxable income. If your travel time or outside class hours turns out to be unusually high, your calculated hourly rate goes down dramatically.

I asked Courtney Hopper, the faculty recruiter I dealt with, if faculty pay could be issued to my corporation (so I could deduct related business expenses, if any, and I had better control over my taxes). They said no. You cannot be an independent contractor, you have to be  classified as a part-time employee. That was a strike for me. I would rather be an independent contractor anytime. As a part-time employee, you can be let go for any reason anyway and you receive no meaningful benefits but you get penalized more heavily from an income tax point of view. Hence, my preference to be an independent contractor in these assignment-based, project-based situations.

For graduate courses that have 6-week terms and 3 credits:

• Starting pay is: $1,300
• After 1 year & 5 courses: You get a whopping $46 increase to $1,346.
• After 3 years & 7 courses: You get a whopping $95 increase to $1,441.

Each of those sessions meet for 4-hours each. That means a total of 24 classroom hours.

Assuming you put in an average of 4 hours of course prep, follow-up, and grading work per week, you will be putting in a total of 48 work-related hours during the term. Taking the math further out, it comes out to a little more than $27/hour starting out and a little more than $30/hour at the top of the scale. All of this is considered W-2 taxable income. If your travel time or outside class hours turns out to be unusually high, your calculated hourly rate goes down dramatically.

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For faculty with PhD or JD degrees, the compensation schedule is listed below.

For undergraduate courses that have 5-week terms and 3 credits:

• Starting pay is: $1,165.
• After 1 year & 5 courses: You get a whopping $36 increase to $1,201.
• After 3 years & 7 courses: You get a whopping $74 increase to $1,275.

Each of those sessions meet for 4-hours each. That means a total of 20 classroom hours.

Assuming you put in an average of 4 hours of course prep, follow-up, and grading work per week, you will be putting in a total of 40 work-related hours during the term. Taking the math further out, it comes out to a little more than $29/hour starting out and a little less than $32/hour at the top of the scale. All of this is considered W-2 taxable income. If your travel time or outside class hours turns out to be unusually high, your calculated hourly rate goes down dramatically.

For graduate courses that have 6-week terms and 3 credits:

• Starting pay is: $1,600
• After 1 year & 5 courses: You get a whopping $46 increase to $1,646.
• After 3 years & 7 courses: You get a whopping $95 increase to $1,741.

Each of those sessions meet for 4-hours each. That means a total of 24 classroom hours.

Assuming you put in an average of 4 hours of course prep, follow-up, and grading work per week, you will be putting in a total of 48 work-related hours during the term. Taking the math further out, it comes out to a little more than $33/hour starting out and a little more than $36/hour at the top of the scale. All of this is considered W-2 taxable income. If your travel time or outside class hours turns out to be unusually high, your calculated hourly rate goes down dramatically.

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One of the reasons I lost interest quickly is that the compensation plan was very low to begin with compared to all the work and the lengthy indoctrination process to become UOPX faculty. The responsibilities involved was simply not commensurate with what I have been accustomed to in creating and receiving business income vs. actively working as a part-time employee under the heavily-taxed W-2 income structure.

While money was not my highest reason to pursue a part-time faculty position with University of Phoenix, the moment I lost enthusiasm for the idea of teaching for UOPX, it quickly became a no-brainer to simply leave it behind. I decided I could have more fun and make more money working on my own projects.

To read more of my commentaries about University of Phoenix (sorry, most of it is not good), click here.