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In 2007-08, average salaries for full-time instructional faculty members at public two-year colleges were the same in inflation-adjusted dollars as they had been in 1991-92. Average faculty salaries had increased 4% at public four-year and 11% at private not-for-profit four-year institutions over these 16 years. These increases compare to 20% growth in average earnings for individuals holding professional degrees. |
Professional degrees include graduate degrees in medicine, dentistry, chiropractic, osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, podiatry, veterinary medicine, law and theology. The years of education required to attain these degrees are similar to the years required to earn a Ph.D.
Sources: NCES, Digest of Education Statistics 2008, Table 257; U.S. Census Bureau, Historical Income Tables, P-18.
Download Excel for this figure. Download Excel for all figures and tables. This figure was prepared in October 2009. - Average salaries peaked in 1999 for professional degree holders and in 2002-03 for public college faculty.
Average salaries for private college faculty grew 5% in constant dollars between 1999-2000 and 2007-08.More
- The percentage of faculty compensation that covers benefits as opposed to salary increased
from 16% in 1979-80 to 22% in 2007-08, with the most rapid growth from 1999-2000 on.More
- At both public and private colleges and universities, about one-third of the full-time equivalent employees are faculty members.
- The number of faculty per student at private colleges rose slightly from 1997 to 2007. The number of staff
per student at private colleges and the number of both faculty and staff per student at public colleges declined over this decade.More
Also Important
- About two-thirds of full-time faculty members hold Ph.D. degrees or professional degrees. (AAUP, 2009)
- Health and retirement benefits together constitute about three-quarters of faculty benefits.
Expenditures on health benefits, which are about four times as high as they were in the late 1970s, constitute a rapidly increasing share of total benefits. (Digest of Education Statistics 2008, Table 263)More
