Dive Brief:
- Colorado legislators have rejected a bill that would have boosted pay for adjunct professors at the state’s 13 community colleges.
- The colleges have nearly 3,000 adjunct faculty who make an average of $18,000 a year, compared to $48,000 for the 1,100 full-time professors.
- The bill died in the Colorado House Appropriations Committee, which voted against it mainly because of its $55-million price tag.
Dive Insight:
Adjunct professors continue to receive sympathy for their plight, if not pay increases. State Rep. Randy Fischer, the bill’s proponent, argued that the state community college system should use some of its $100 million reserves to pay its adjunct professors better. But other legislators pointed out that using the reserves would be a short-term-only solution and that mandated pay increases could lead to adjunct layoffs and tuition increases as high as 24%.