I’m sure as we all consider college finances, some have wondered what professors earn. Maybe a few here can post actual numbers they know about, perhaps from family members or even themselves, in a generic description. For example, tenured history professor at private midwest LAC earns X. New assistant math professor at state flagship makes Y.
It really depends on field and part of the country and time in position and profile. A friend of mine started at a LAC for 40k. Another started elsewhere at 75k. One tenured prof I know makes 68k and another makes 175k. Google professor salaries and you can get averages per school.
The state university salaries are often public, just in case you are interested in salaries from a particular university.
Yes, there are so many variables. And then after professors establish their reputations, they can get chairs named after them and that comes with additional compensation.
I know my dad made a pretty good living as a professor, but he’s one of the hardest-working people I’ve ever known. If he had gone to work in private industry, he would have made a lot more money.
The Chronicle of Higher Education maintains a database of faculty salaries here: https://data.chronicle.com/
https://www.aaup.org/file/ARES_2017-18.pdf
Here is the report of the American Association of University Professors. It doesn’t cover community colleges, nor does it break down by discipline (professors of engineering tend to make significantly more then professors of history). This means the average number doesn’t tell much of the story.
Not sure where you are going with this, but I can tell you basically professor salaries are not enough. For STEM subjects they pale in comparison to what one can earn in industry.
Almost every professor I know though, wouldn’t trade places with me for anything despite the compensation issues and the workload. People who go into academia have a higher mission and an insane work ethic. An EE professor I know, long tenured, still spends every night working after dinner until midnight. Assuming that his kids don’t go to his school, where they could go for free, he gets tuition benefits of half tuition at other schools. Despite that, he will still have to pay taxes on that benefit (roughly 38% of the benefit), plus room and board. Assuming that tuition is only two thirds of the cost, he would still end up paying 79% of list price (tax on tuitio award+other half of tuition+ room+board), and is trying to figure out how he’s going to be able to do that. If his kids end up at his school, he would still end up paying 59% of the benefit (tax on tuition award + room+board).
A professor of economics at a large research U with a high-demand area of research (monetary policy, risk and capital reserves, liquidity) is going to be able to double his or her income by consulting to banks and other financial institutions. A professor of aero/astro is going to do the same by consulting to one of the large aircraft or systems manufacturers. Professors of statistics and political science consult to the polling/data/voter behavior firms.
So salary doesn’t really tell the story in a lot of disciplines.
Professors at medical schools? Sometimes the salary is chump change, especially if they work in the devices field (royalties on a device can be in the millions even after splitting with the company that commercializes it, the university which houses the research lab, and the other collaborators.)
So these professors who consult to outside industries have the colleges’ permission to do so?
Faculty are asked to report whether or not they are making outside income. I don’t think they need to ask for permission. The typical faculty appointment is 9 months so the U wouldn’t control how those extra months are used.
^Yes. My dad did a lot of consulting and UT was fine with it. It’s a way to have the faculty engaged with the outside world.
He’s still going strong. In spring of 2019, just before he turns 82, he will be the main speaker at a forensics engineering conference. He has four or five speaking engagements this month! I don’t know how he does it.
And yes, growing up, I saw Dad working well past midnight most nights. That’s why I’m a night owl to this day! We all stayed up late.
https://sunshine.unm.edu/salary-book/salary-by-job-title.html
For my university - type “Professor” and sort by annual salary and you’ll see some clear trends. Of course, this is only for one public research university, but it can give you an idea.
Another source for university salary data:
https://www.higheredjobs.com/salary/
At the university where I worked, the highest salaries for faculty were in the law school and the school of business.
Yes, many kinds of consultation are considered related work, though most universities monitor the amount and appropriateness. As an English professor, I usually consult on academic and pedagogical issues, which are related to my research. In other disciplines, industrial consultation can be related to research, too, or networking to help place students in jobs.
Since being a professor is a bit entrepreneurial, colleges usually don’t preapprove, but look at annual reviews.
Many professors can consult 1 day a week.
Very few faculty in my area did consulting for cash. They did a fair bit of service-consulting, advising or serving on committees of various academic or scientific institutions and foundations. Somebody has to edit the journals, review proposals to NIH and NSF, advise international organizations and foundations about programs and projects, or serve on committees of their professional association. I’ve done a fair amount of all of these things for NO pay. It’s “professional service.”
I should add that in many academic fields it is expected that faculty will generate external funding for research, and perhaps also for academic program improvements. I haven’t added up the amount that I’ve brought in, but over a long career it’s a couple of million in a non-technical field. One of the benefits of grant funding for many faculty who are on a standard 9-month (“academic year”) appointment is that they can augment their annual income via “summer” pay (for 2 months that would be 2/9 of their academic year salary).
However, external funding does a lot more than that. It may pay the salaries of graduate students and post-docs, it pays for equipment and supplies, and it pays for travel for research and meetings. There is also an incentive to the universities to encourage their faculty to get major grants that pay for “indirect costs” or “overhead,” often (for NSF and NIH) at a federally negotiated standard rate, e.g., (hypothetical) 30% overhead or indirect costs based on the direct costs.
I work at a medical school and faculty are allowed to earn up to 30 percent of their base salary from outside activity with prior approval. I think this is may be unique to medical school faculty but the main concern is conflict of interest and conflict of commitment. Also, certain types of moonlighting activity are not allowed.
It’s worth mentioning that the majority of professors are part-time adjuncts. Here’s the AAUP on that: https://www.aaup.org/issues/contingency/background-facts
Also, you have to remember that in many cases, people who become professors delay the start of their earning years considerably compared to most other professionals, which is an opportunity cost, esp. in terms of retirement savings, paying off a mortgage, etc. For example, if you’re buying your first house at 40 instead of 30, that changes a lot of the math of your life span.
Great point about age. I started my academic career at a “young” age: 27. That’s a loss of several years of opportunity to save money while I was in graduate school. We finally got the cash needed for the 20% downpayment on our first home (with a 30 yr mortgage) when I was age 35.
I find this fascinating.
Though not sure how this helps anyone not entering academia. . .