This College Professor Has a Master's...And Is Living in Poverty

[Hekate]

112. I've heard of lecturers patching together a living at 3 or more colleges; "freeway flyers"

They call them freeway flyers. They have MAs, PhDs, it doesn't matter. They are cheap. C.H.E.A.P. It means the institutions they work for can avoid the whole issue of tenure, which is expensive. Offices cost the department money, and sometimes the department has to scrounge to find a vacant one -- I know, for awhile I was an Admin Assistant at a University.

Career track -- expensive
Tenure -- expensive
Benefits -- expensive
Offices -- expensive
Retirement -- expensive

Adjuncts and Lecturers don't cost much at all. They are paid by the hours they teach, not a salary that assumes they spend all the rest of their time prepping, researching, counseling students.

Whenever I read that another group is agitating for a union, I give a silent cheer. They are treated shamefully, and they should unionize, because otherwise they will never be accorded a decent living.