Would an Accounting or Law professor make more than a History or English professor? I figure the opportunity costs of being away from an Accounting or Law firm would be greater.
Within departments, would it be the same thing? In Business Admin: Finance > Economics? In Art: Architecture > Painting?
How about the different types of colleges? Let’s take colleges in California as an example.
Stanford
UC-Berkeley
UC-Riverside
Cal State-Fresno
USC
Biola Univ
Would a prestigious private school pay more than the prestigious public school? Stanford < Cal-Berkeley?
A flagship state university vs another state university. UC-Berkeley > UC-Riverside
University of Cal vs Cal State. UC-Riverside > Fresno State
A rich private school vs a small private school? USC > Biola
You can find data on average faculty salaries by institution at the Chronicle of Higher Education site on the American Association of University Professors Faculty Survey. Yes, more prestigious institutions generally pay higher salaries.
And yes, as a rule, faculty members in fields like engineering, business, law, etc., make significantly more than ones in the humanities. Inside Higher Education has a survey showing average salaries by discipline and rank. As you can see, a full professor in computer science earns about $91K on average, one in business $98K, and one in English $74K.
If a political theory professor wants to leave the college tomorrow, he can’t just put up a sign saying “Political Theorist” and wait for the business to roll in. If an enginnering professor wants to go and work in the private sector tomorrow, he can probably triple his university salary.
Plus, faculty in the hard sciences bring in huge research grants, while faculty in other fields generally don’t, so political theory guy doesn’t complain when the checks are handed out, because the other guy’s research probably helped fill out his paycheck a bit.
My dad was a business professor, and also sat on some hiring committees over the years. He told me once that at one point, they were hiring for professors in both business and physical education. The business position was advertised at something like three or four times the salary of the PE position, but they had about ten times more applicants for the PE positions.
On average, business faculty are among the highest paid at most institutions. One not-so-obvious reason is donations - whether from the private sector or alumni. It is not uncommon for successful alumni or a local business to endow a chair (i.e. fund a professor’s position). In a way, this makes sense, as one would hope a decent business school would produce successful business people. Sometimes, they even fund a little more than a chair…
College prof here. The Chronicle definitely has all the info you would need.
Most state university systems have some kind of system in place. I know the faculty hires made in my department the year I started were offered the same starting salaries. But there’s a great deal of negotiation involved, and most of it is not financial. It’s about course releases, leaves, startup funds, office/lab space, and stuff like that. Department chairs have to balance these requests and figure out how to hook faculty without breaking the bank, and of course alienating other hires or faculty.
I have a colleague who teaches at Vandy and she went in with guns blazing, asked for a shitload of startup money, release time, and extra cash… pretty much got what she asked for. It helps to be a hotshot in your field, or an emerging hotshot.
I should mention that this is one profession where virtually everyone can find a way to make money on the side fairly easily - consulting, giving talks, lecturing, board work, and so on. I know profs who are associates or full that make more as consultants than they do as profs. (Again, state schools often have rules about this, and you’d better not use university property or materials for your moneymaking enterprise.) Plus, if you can successfully get grant money in your work, that’s another way to supplement your income.
I don’t spend a lot of time doing this, but if I really focused on it I could probably make another $10K a year doing outside stuff. But it can be time consuming, and there’s not much reward when it comes to promotion and tenure.
Medical school professors probably make the most. I know of one who makes about $400k at a public school. Of course that does not include outside money he might make. Engineering guys can make a lot of extra money too if they want to.
Hippy Hollow: What field are you in? I imagine there’s a big difference between where you can pull in the consulting money. My first response was to say “that’s not what I’m familiar with”, as a very junior technician in a biomedical lab, but on further consideration… Yeah, I guess my PI does get paid for at least some of those talks and extra teaching gigs she takes on. And there are more than a few people in the department that have hit the jackpot with patents.
In Australia, academic salaries are based on a standardized system of 25 different pay grades set by the government. All academics in the same pay grade earn the same amount, regardless of faculty. Individual academics can have “loading” applied on top of their base pay but this rarely tops 50% and is usually more in the range of 10 - 30%.
However, this is slowly starting to change with increased international competition.
In the US, it’s pretty much market-driven. As a full professor in the English department, I make about half of what starting Assistant Professors make in schools like the School of Law. Of course they can join a law firm at even bigger money, while I can’t teach English on the subways, so it makes sense.
I just received my Master’s degree about a week ago, and I’ve been teaching as an adjunct faculty member (English) since last fall, so my perspective is a bit different. I also teach at a community college (actually, several of them) which makes something of a difference.
As an adjunct, I basically get a certain amount of money per class. Right now, it’s $1600, plus another $500 if I have to teach a lab component. That’s what they pay us if we have a Master’s degree. It’s a bit higher (IIRC, a hundred bucks or so) if you have a PhD. All adjunct faculty in all departments are paid that amount.
When it comes to full-time, there is still a payscale based on education level, with Bachelor’s degree holders making less than Master’s degree holders, who make less than Doctorate holders, who make less than PhDs with more postgraduate hours. That payscale is the same across the board, so those in the English department make the same as an equally-educated professor in the science department. There are additions to base salary, such as number of years one has taught at the particular institution.
What others have said is right on the mark…I just wanted to add my perspective as a teacher at the community college level.
I suppose that’s part of it, but if salaries were completely donor-driven…well, I’m not going to cast aspersions but some sub-sectors of business alumni aren’t well-known for giving back. MBAs and other entrepreneurs usually give back generously, but some other business majors don’t.
The only other thing to be added here is that it’s important to understand if the salary is for a 9-month appointment, or 12-month. (This can vary from job to job.)
I’m in education. A field where it’s fairly easy to get gigs with universities, school districts, and even consultant groups. I think it has to do more with “marketing yourself.” I have a colleague who’s a historian and somehow sits on a board of a bank… go figure…
