2008 Woodie Awards
Public, private schools show difference in pay
Joanna Knight
Issue date: 4/25/08 Section: News
Originally published: 4/24/08 at 4:05 PM EST
Last update: 4/24/08 at 5:04 PM EST
Private college and university faculty are increasingly paid more than faculty at public colleges, says a new report by the American Association of University and College Professors (AAUP).
"When public institutions struggle to attract (and keep) the best faculty, our nation faces the risk of creating separate but unequal systems of higher education," the report cautioned.
Human resources director Larry Mills said Plattsburgh State strives to keep its faculty salaries competitive with the institution's similarly-sized "sister" schools within the SUNY system. "But we can't compete with (private schools) with more money," he said.
According to the AAUP, the average faculty salary at PSUC is $61,000. This is slightly higher than the average at Potsdam and Cortland and significantly lower than Albany and Binghamton, where the average salary tops $80,000.
At a handful of New York's private institutions, including New York University and Cornell, the average faculty salary is higher than $100,000.
Private schools, according to Mills, simply have more money and more spending flexibility. "We are stewards of state money," he said.
Differences between salaries paid to PSUC faculty could be thought to reflect priorities here, particularly to the extent that the numbers might be interpreted as revealing the emphasis the college puts on attracting professors to certain programs. History and philosophy faculty earn a yearly salary that is significantly less than business school faculty, with the dean of the business school also earning about $10,000 more per year than the dean of arts and sciences.
Nationwide, assistant business professors earn 101.9 percent more than assistant professors of English. Mills attributes the higher salaries paid to business school faculty to external market pressures, noting that an economics Ph.D. could make more money working in finance than teaching.
According to the AAUP report, if the average salary of an assistant professor ($58,662) were increased by as little as 1 percentage point, that individual would earn more than $17,000 in pretax dollars over thirty years.
Consistent with another trend identified by the report of a "growing gap" between college administrator and faculty salaries, President John Ettling's yearly salary is, at $190,000, more than three times greater than the salary earned by the average faculty member here.
The AAUP report also points to trends of some gender-based pay inequality. According to the report, male full-professors make 12.1 percent more on average than their female colleagues.
The faculty salary issue is, according to the authors of the AAUP report, one that should be openly discussed. "Financial inequality has significant implications for the quality of higher education."
"When public institutions struggle to attract (and keep) the best faculty, our nation faces the risk of creating separate but unequal systems of higher education," the report cautioned.
Human resources director Larry Mills said Plattsburgh State strives to keep its faculty salaries competitive with the institution's similarly-sized "sister" schools within the SUNY system. "But we can't compete with (private schools) with more money," he said.
According to the AAUP, the average faculty salary at PSUC is $61,000. This is slightly higher than the average at Potsdam and Cortland and significantly lower than Albany and Binghamton, where the average salary tops $80,000.
At a handful of New York's private institutions, including New York University and Cornell, the average faculty salary is higher than $100,000.
Private schools, according to Mills, simply have more money and more spending flexibility. "We are stewards of state money," he said.
Differences between salaries paid to PSUC faculty could be thought to reflect priorities here, particularly to the extent that the numbers might be interpreted as revealing the emphasis the college puts on attracting professors to certain programs. History and philosophy faculty earn a yearly salary that is significantly less than business school faculty, with the dean of the business school also earning about $10,000 more per year than the dean of arts and sciences.
Nationwide, assistant business professors earn 101.9 percent more than assistant professors of English. Mills attributes the higher salaries paid to business school faculty to external market pressures, noting that an economics Ph.D. could make more money working in finance than teaching.
According to the AAUP report, if the average salary of an assistant professor ($58,662) were increased by as little as 1 percentage point, that individual would earn more than $17,000 in pretax dollars over thirty years.
Consistent with another trend identified by the report of a "growing gap" between college administrator and faculty salaries, President John Ettling's yearly salary is, at $190,000, more than three times greater than the salary earned by the average faculty member here.
The AAUP report also points to trends of some gender-based pay inequality. According to the report, male full-professors make 12.1 percent more on average than their female colleagues.
The faculty salary issue is, according to the authors of the AAUP report, one that should be openly discussed. "Financial inequality has significant implications for the quality of higher education."
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Tourpro
posted 4/25/08 @ 10:03 AM EST
Price is determined by supply and demand - the Business profs apparently get it.
private school
posted 11/06/08 @ 7:38 AM EST
Top private schools hire educated and experienced teacher and pay handsome amount. These schools also provide good facilities to the students and give the training of games. (Continued…)
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