*Bangs Head On Desk*
Lately, there has been much discussion on the impact the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will have on adjunct (part-time) teaching faculty. Mainly, it involves colleges cutting down the amount of courses an adjunct can teach as a way of avoiding paying for health insurance. This does not surprise me one bit as colleges are always looking for ways of cutting costs, usually at the expense of the students. More and more colleges are relying on adjuncts to teach courses rather than pay the much higher salaries with benefits to full-time tenure-track faculty.
Right now, I am only--ya, only--teaching at two colleges and I wondered how this would affect me. I usually teach 2-3 classes at "Rich Bitch College" and 3-4 at "East Podunk Rural College." The former hasn't even hinted at the issue while the latter seems to be rather confused by it. My department head there, who I shall refer to as "Hippie Chick" (and I mean this in a nice and loving way), seems to like me for some reason and tries to give me as many classes there as she can. I am more than willing to teach them as it's more money in my pocket. However, our union president sent out an e-mail a month ago saying we cannot teach more than two classes due to problems with the ACA. Then, this week, I got another e-mail stating that the Trustees essentially said "screw it" and said we can teach up to three. While I am confused, I am also relieved.
What people don't realize is that a lot of adjuncts do this as their only job, like me. I travel hundreds of miles a week between these jobs and have wracked up around 60,000 miles in the past three years on my poor car. Mind you, there are days when I wonder why I do it as the pay really isn't worth it. One day I actually calculated how much I get paid per hours worked both inside and outside the classroom and I discovered I make less than minimum wage. This is a scary prospect between the high cost of gas and the absolutely absurd amount of money I owe in student loans.
If colleges use the ACA as a loophole, which more and more are doing, this is going to have a severe impact on the economic well-being of us adjuncts. I need to work a minimum of five courses a semester just to pay my bills. If I get six or more than I can put some in savings for the semesters when I'm not so lucky. So, if all colleges say we're only allowed two courses per college, I would be in bad shape. This isn't even taking into account the fact that I may lose courses due to underenrollment or because a full-time faculty member takes it. Heck, the only reason why I accept the max now is because I know I will lose a course here and there like I did this semester--in this case the full-timer, who is an obnoxious prick, did not have a single student enrolled in his super-duper-uber-special course that only he seems to be interested in so he took my full with waiting list intro course.
I am sending my resume out to other colleges but there is a big problem right now: most colleges are seeing a drop in enrollment. While they would love to hire adjuncts as we're cheaper, there aren't enough classes to go around. Enrollment seemed to peak in 2010 and now everybody is panicking that the full-timers may not have enough classes themselves, nonetheless any for part-timers.
Oh, and please don't tell me to change fields. You know how hard it is to find a job when your only experience is in teaching and you have multiple advanced degrees? I'm completely under-qualified for half the jobs and overqualified for others. Plus, I actually enjoy teaching. And no, I will not teach grade school. I can't stand dealing with parents. It's bad enough that some "precious" snowflakes have mommy and daddy blame me for their atrocious grades. At least in college I can throw FERPA privacy regulations in their faces and not deal with them. I can't do that with minors. Plus, I like to be able to swear occasionally when the mood fits. Also, I have no idea what I even could do outside academia given my degrees and limited experience.
Now you know why I am banging my head against the desk. This, on top of many other stressors--too many to go into right now--is giving me a serious case of agita. And people wonder why I want to curl up into a ball under the covers and say "fuck the world" right now.
P.S. Thank you all for the kind words regarding Loki. I'm doing a bit better mentally but I think it will be a long time before the guilt is gone. I know I'm being too hard on myself but that's the way I am. I just worry about Bear as Loki was his buddy. It's going to take a while longer for the pain to go away.
Right now, I am only--ya, only--teaching at two colleges and I wondered how this would affect me. I usually teach 2-3 classes at "Rich Bitch College" and 3-4 at "East Podunk Rural College." The former hasn't even hinted at the issue while the latter seems to be rather confused by it. My department head there, who I shall refer to as "Hippie Chick" (and I mean this in a nice and loving way), seems to like me for some reason and tries to give me as many classes there as she can. I am more than willing to teach them as it's more money in my pocket. However, our union president sent out an e-mail a month ago saying we cannot teach more than two classes due to problems with the ACA. Then, this week, I got another e-mail stating that the Trustees essentially said "screw it" and said we can teach up to three. While I am confused, I am also relieved.
What people don't realize is that a lot of adjuncts do this as their only job, like me. I travel hundreds of miles a week between these jobs and have wracked up around 60,000 miles in the past three years on my poor car. Mind you, there are days when I wonder why I do it as the pay really isn't worth it. One day I actually calculated how much I get paid per hours worked both inside and outside the classroom and I discovered I make less than minimum wage. This is a scary prospect between the high cost of gas and the absolutely absurd amount of money I owe in student loans.
If colleges use the ACA as a loophole, which more and more are doing, this is going to have a severe impact on the economic well-being of us adjuncts. I need to work a minimum of five courses a semester just to pay my bills. If I get six or more than I can put some in savings for the semesters when I'm not so lucky. So, if all colleges say we're only allowed two courses per college, I would be in bad shape. This isn't even taking into account the fact that I may lose courses due to underenrollment or because a full-time faculty member takes it. Heck, the only reason why I accept the max now is because I know I will lose a course here and there like I did this semester--in this case the full-timer, who is an obnoxious prick, did not have a single student enrolled in his super-duper-uber-special course that only he seems to be interested in so he took my full with waiting list intro course.
I am sending my resume out to other colleges but there is a big problem right now: most colleges are seeing a drop in enrollment. While they would love to hire adjuncts as we're cheaper, there aren't enough classes to go around. Enrollment seemed to peak in 2010 and now everybody is panicking that the full-timers may not have enough classes themselves, nonetheless any for part-timers.
Oh, and please don't tell me to change fields. You know how hard it is to find a job when your only experience is in teaching and you have multiple advanced degrees? I'm completely under-qualified for half the jobs and overqualified for others. Plus, I actually enjoy teaching. And no, I will not teach grade school. I can't stand dealing with parents. It's bad enough that some "precious" snowflakes have mommy and daddy blame me for their atrocious grades. At least in college I can throw FERPA privacy regulations in their faces and not deal with them. I can't do that with minors. Plus, I like to be able to swear occasionally when the mood fits. Also, I have no idea what I even could do outside academia given my degrees and limited experience.
Now you know why I am banging my head against the desk. This, on top of many other stressors--too many to go into right now--is giving me a serious case of agita. And people wonder why I want to curl up into a ball under the covers and say "fuck the world" right now.
P.S. Thank you all for the kind words regarding Loki. I'm doing a bit better mentally but I think it will be a long time before the guilt is gone. I know I'm being too hard on myself but that's the way I am. I just worry about Bear as Loki was his buddy. It's going to take a while longer for the pain to go away.
Comments