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Adjunct Faculty Loan Fairness Act Factsheet

Part-time faculty are a large and growing part of the workforce in higher education.

• In 2011, approximately 1.5 million faculty members worked in postsecondary education in the United States.[i] Of those, over 768,000 are part-time faculty.[ii]
• The reality is that institutions of higher education now overwhelmingly rely upon adjunct academic labor. Adjunct professors are instructors that are hired on a course-by-course basis or a semester-to-semester basis, have no job security, are paid minimal compensation, are usually provided no benefits, and are outside the tenure system.

Adjunct faculty often have trouble making ends meet, paying student debt.

• The average pay per course reported by adjunct faculty is approximately $3,000.[iii]An adjunct who teaches eight courses per year will make just $24,000 annually.
• In order to “make it” in academia, most adjunct faculty must obtain advanced degrees. A 2012 survey by the Coalition on the Academic Workforce found that over 94% of the part-time faculty respondents had an advanced degree.[iv]
• For most, pursuing an advanced degree means taking out student loans. Almost three-quarters of graduate degree recipients have an average of $61,120 in student loans.[v]

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Overview

• The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF), established as a part of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 (Pub. L. No. 110-84, 121 Stat. 784 and codified as amended in scattered sections of 20 U.S.C.), is designed to encourage graduates to pursue a career in public service.
• PSLF offers loan forgiveness after ten years (120 payments) of full-time work in government or the non-profit sector.

Coverage

• PSLF covers government entities, public institutions and not-for-profit organizations that are tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The non-profit organizations include most private, not-for-profit elementary and secondary schools, private, not-for-profit colleges and universities, and thousands of other organizations, agencies, and charities.

Current Eligibility Requirements

• In order to be eligible for the program, one must work “full-time,” which the statute defines as 30 hours per week over the course of a year.[vi]
• If you work part-time, you can qualify for PSLF by combining the hours you work at multiple jobs for an overall average of 30 hours per week. If you do not meet that 30-hour requirement you will not get credit for PSLF for that year.

How does PSLF Fail Part-Time Faculty?

• Some part-time faculty will meet the 30-hour benchmark by combining the hours they work at multiple jobs.
• However, since school administrators decide how many courses a part-time instructor can teach, many part-time faculty have little control over their own course load. Part-time instructors do not get to choose whether they can meet the 30-hour eligibility requirement.
• Just one semester with a low course load can prevent an instructor from obtaining credit for PSLF for that year. For instance, if an instructor teaches five 3-credit courses during the fall semester and just two 3-credit courses during the spring semester, he or she may fail to be eligible for PSLF and will not get credit for that year.

Overview of the Adjunct Faculty Loan Fairness Act

• The Adjunct Faculty Loan Fairness Act will honor the public service of adjunct faculty by allowing adjunct faculty to access PSLF even if they have a low course load that does not meet the 30 hour eligibility requirement.
• Adjunct faculty who teach at least one course in a given year will qualify for PSLF.
• Adjunct faculty who have a separate, full-time, private sector job will not have access to this program. This means that the program will only be open to those adjunct faculty who really need the benefits of PSLF—those who make a living from teaching.

The Impact of the Adjunct Faculty Loan Fairness Act

• Part-time faculty with student loans will be the only people impacted by this bill. There is no public data on the number of adjunct faculty with student loans. However, we do know, as referenced above, that:

o Adjunct faculty tend to have low wages and poor benefits, they have advanced degrees which means they probably have student loans, and they have a variable course load that is largely out of their control. Most importantly, they are vital public servants who need PSLF, yet are blocked from stable access to this important program as it’s currently structured.

[i] John W. Curtis, “The Employment Status of Instructional Staff Members in Higher Education, Fall 2011,” American Association of University Professors, April 2014, P5. http://www.aaup.org/sites/default/files/files/AAUP-InstrStaff2011-April2014.pdf.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii]Audrey Williams June and Jonah Newman, “Adjunct project reveals wide range in pay,” Chronicle of Higher Education, January 4, 2013, accessed October 3, 2013, http://chronicle.com/article/Adjunct-Project-Shows-Wide/136439/.

[iv]“A Portrait of Part-Time Faculty Members,” Table 9, Coalition on the Academic Workforce, June 2012, accessed October 3, 2013, http://www.academicworkforce.org/CAW_portrait_2012.pdf.

[v] “Average Undergraduate Debt, Graduate Debt, and Total Debt for Graduate Degree Recipients, 2007-08,” Figure 2009_8B, The College Board, http://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid/figures-tables/average-undergraduate-debt-graduate-debt-and-total-debt-graduate-degree-recipients-2007-08.

[vi] Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, 34 C.F.R. § 685.219 (2010).

The House of Representatives Sheds Light on Adjunct Working Conditions

On July 23, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the “Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act,” marking an important step toward bringing transparency to our higher education system. The bill will help millions of prospective and current college students make well-informed decisions about enrolling and attending college. It will also require universities to reveal important information about the working conditions of adjunct faculty, who are now the majority of faculty in higher education.

“This important legislation gives students, faculty, lawmakers and the public more information about what’s happening in higher education,” said SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry. “Over the past year, adjunct faculty have joined together to raise standards in our profession and it’s good to see Congress is interested in shining a spotlight on trends in higher education that have marginalized contingent and part-time faculty.”

SEIU helped to make sure that the “Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act” will also allow students and families to gain better information about academic working conditions. It requires institutions of higher education to report the ratio of the number of courses taught by part-time instructors and full-time instructors as well as the mean and median years of employment of their part-time instructors.

Andrew Nelson teaches English at Lindenwood University and East Central College in the St. Louis area. He said,“As an adjunct professor who has taught six years at the university and community college level, I have always placed student success at the top of my education philosophy; accordingly, I am pleased to see that HR 4983 is designed to assist students in pursuit of realizing their educational goals. I am also happy to see legislation that acknowledges the troubling trends in faculty working conditions nationally.Hopefully this bill is a step toward improving the working conditions of millions of adjuncts like myself.”

Read more about the bill and implications for part-time faculty at the Chronicle of Higher Education.

A win for Laguna College of Art + Design part-time faculty

Following the win at Whittier College and two landslide victories in the Bay Area (at the San Francisco Art Institute and Mills College), part-time faculty at the Laguna College of Art + Design (LCAD) are the latest in a growing movement of California adjuncts who are building power with SEIU/Adjunct Action.

“We are excited to join the other part-time faculty in L.A., the Bay Area and the rest of the country who are organizing to improve the working conditions and educational environment for students and faculty,” said James Galindo, a Fine Arts part-time instructor at LCAD. “We’re looking forward to working with the administration to address the issues that will benefit everyone at LCAD.”

On Monday July 14th, ballots were counted at the National Labor Relations Board, with the majority of LCAD part-time faculty voting in favor of forming a union with SEIU/Adjunct Action. LCAD part-time faculty join a growing movement of over 21,000 unionized adjuncts across the country who have won improvements in pay, job security, evaluation processes, and access to retirement benefits.

St. Thomas Adjuncts on their Unionization Effort

Check out a video by MN2020 on unionization drive by St. Thomas adjuncts. Click here to read more.

Star Tribune Adjunct OpEd: Why Adjunct Professors are Unionizing

Hamline University Contingent Faculty Member Swati Avasthi wrote a moving piece in the Minneapolis Star Tribune about the crisis in higher education, and how forming a union is a part of rebuilding the American Dream. She writes…

Read the entire piece at the Star Tribune.