General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Are University Professors overpaid? [View all]Adrahil
(13,340 posts)BTW, I don't mind long detailed answers. In fact, I appreciate the context.... now...
First off, not bloody many professors are making $130K. Those are FULL professors (so, probably 15 years experience with lots of professional accomplishments). Most tenure line professors are going to be assistant or Associate professors. That would put their pay right in the area of what you consider a fair wage (and that's just at Reasearch I institutions... of which only a minority of colleges are). I can tell you that my wife, an Associate Professor with 11 years experience at a Research I public university, makes no where near $130K. None of her colleagues do either.
These numbers do get skewed a bit by majors where professors can demand higher salaries. For example, PhD engineers can make some serious Tubmans in industry. In order to actually attract them to a university, you need to pay a competitive salaries. They are going to make a LOT more than a history professor (for example).
And let's not forget that a huge chunk of the classes are taught by contract and adjunct faculty making peanuts. And typically, teaching in their only job.
And extra duties are , in fact, part of the job. My wife works 50-60 hours a week (sometimes more). She spends about 12 hours a week in the classroom. Lots of the time is spent on prep, grading, office hours, advising.... all directly related to servicing student educations. That's quite aside from her departmental and administrative duties.
You can, of course, send your kid to a non-research institution: a community college, a third tier state college, small private colleges. At a non-research institution, the professors typically do not have research and publication requirements. But the fact is, very often the quality of graduates from those institutions is below those from the R1 institutions. Learning from the top scholars in the field makes a difference. But students DO have that option, if they want it.