Elgin Community College Faculty Association (ECCFA) ratified an agreement to their faculty contract on Feb. 28. 

A major issue that stalled the contract renewal was the faculty rate of pay. As mentioned in a previous Observer article, ECC faculty remains on the lower end of base salary within the area. 

Another growing conversation among colleges all over the United States is the faculty pay’s large disparity against administrative pay. 

ECC’s education relies on adjunct faculty. Adjunct (part-time) faculty comprise 168 of the 339 total members of the ECCFA, half of the association’s members.

One key detail to take into account is the rate of pay of adjunct faculty. 

A report published by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) establishes a distinct trend throughout the United States. While both full-time and adjunct faculty wages stagnate or decrease, administrator salaries have continued to grow over the same period of time. 

Per this report, both full-time and adjunct faculty have failed to recover in real average salaries prior to the COVID-19 pandemic pay of 2019-20. 

The above graphics use data from the AAUP, applying R-CPI-U-RS, a method of inflation adjustment to reflect modern methodologies used by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

For adjunct faculty at ECC, the rate of pay is determined by total credit hours taught. The data provided by the AAUP represents pay per course section taught (not designating exact number of credit hours per section).  

The data provided shows that across the board, adjunct faculty pay has consistently stagnated or declined nationwide since the pre-pandemic semester of 2019. 

In contrast, administrative salaries are reported to have outpaced the growth in faculty salaries for several years, per the AAUP. Using data on the higher ranking officials such as university presidents or chief academic and financial officers, AAUP reports a median low of about $268,000 in annual salary. 

While the administrative salaries at ECC are lower, the trend of a large disparity between administrative and faculty pay holds true. Here’s how they compare.

ECC salary figures are found through the fiscal salary reports of the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB). 

The adjunct faculty salary was calculated using full time hours of 30 credit hours taught over two semesters at the existing rate of $1,199 per credit hour. Adjunct faculty members are not instructing 30 credit hours over two semesters, and are likely earning less than the figure shown. 

While 168 members of the ECCFA are employed as adjunct faculty, the high ranking administrator salary (75th percentile and above) eclipse their income by over four times the rate of pay. 

It is apparent halfway through this decade that faculty pay has stagnated while administrators pay continues to grow while also maintaining a much higher floor of pay than ECC faculty members. 

Tuition is expected to increase this summer, but it is unknown how much or if any of the revenue generated from that increase will contribute to administration salary or faculty pay.