Are professors driving up the cost of college?

Question

with their sabatticals and high salaries?

Answer 1

I just laughed out loud at your question. You cannot be serious.

Eminently qualified scholars in my field are lucky to earn $90k annually when they are full professors. That's after at least fifteen years of teaching, publication, and service to the university and the profession.

PhD-holding scholars in their first year of employment at the assistant level often begin at under $40k.

Personally, I have taught at the university level for more than a decade, and I can't even afford to buy a house. My students drive better cars than I do. I haven't gone on a vacation EVER in my entire working life.

And sabbaticals are not "paid vacations," as those outside of academia often mistakenly assume. They are reductions in teaching load in order for scholars to carry out necessary research, in order to publish, in order to keep their jobs. They are awarded on a competitive basis, and often only awarded when the scholar can get sufficient grant money in order to pay the salary of a subsitute for his or her position while away on leave.

If you are actually serious about making this argument, you might want to rethink your underlying assumptions.

Answer 2

I think professor salaries are just a drop in the bucket. I have a freind who is a maintenance worker at Harvard- and the unbeleivable way the administration wastes money on a daily basis is shocking,

Private institutions have the upper hand in supply and demand- so they have little incentive to be frugal with money.

Answer 3

LOL!!!
high salaries? Are you joking? My starting salary 5 years ago was $55,000....that's after 4 years of college, 6 years of graduate school, and 8 years of postdoctoral fellowship.
so, train for 18 years and get a $50K job? HIGH SALARIES?
are you kidding me? some IT kid comes straight out of a 3-year program and makes more than that.
Give me a break

Answer 4

yes they really are