Some professors paid less than school teachers

By Jina Tedmori
Daily Forty-Niner

Some full-time associate professors at Cal State Long Beach make less than elementary school teachers, according to California Faculty Association officials.

"A beginning lecturer with a master's or Ph.D. receives $27,564 a year," said Hamdi Bilici, chapter president of CFA.

An university-level instructor with a Ph.D., a substantial amount of academic experience and work experience, can receive a salary of $51,624 a year as a Level Four associate professor. That is still less than what an average secondary school teacher earns.

In the Huntington Beach Unified School District, an individual with 30 units of teaching credentials beyond a bachelor's degree. and no prior teaching experience, would receive a salary of $37,649 a year, according to Carol Pervis, an education-certified personnel technician with the school district.

"If someone had five years teaching experience and received their master's, they would receive $53,486 a year," Pervis said of teachers in the her district.

Even though many CSULB lecturers hold a doctorate, some still need to work two jobs to maintain a comfortable life style.

"It is necessary, given my circumstances with child care, housing costs and my modest standard of living, to maintain two jobs," said Scott Lybarger, a full-time lecturer in the communication department. "And the prospect of owning a home is pretty bleak."

While some college professors may work two jobs, elementary school teachers are getting paid far more with the same, or often less of an educational background.

"Many lecturers teach at different CSU campuses, and others also teach at community colleges," said Elizabeth Hoffman of the CFA.

"Most of CSULB lecturers tend to be at the lower end of the pay scale because they are recently hired," Bilici said. "It takes longer for a lecturer to get to professor level because they need to teach a certain amount of courses. Many lecturers teach only one or two a semester."

Of the five levels leading to a position of a full, tenured professor, only the final level garners a salary above $60,000.

Many may be surprised to find out being a university instructor is not about the money.

"Faculty members for higher education don't necessarily work for money," Bilici said. "It is more because they like what they are doing. If it was for money, they would go straight to being elementary school teachers. It is the dedication to education that facility members teach.