Becoming a phisolophy professor- is it a well-paid job?

Question

If I become a philosophy professor, then will I earn decent amount of money?

I am a newbie on this university education field, so I want to get a brief picture of what it is.

How much is an average salary of a philosophy professor?

And, is the money earning for the professors in general low?

And is the philosophy professor's "growth potential" (it means getting a promotion, being paid higher salary, etc.) high?

Please tell me as info as possible.

Thank you.

Answer 1

The salaries of philosophy professors is generally pretty low - think something around $50,000 to start (after getting the Ph.D.), and the problem is that there is very little "growth" in faculty salaries. There are only two possible promotions, to associate and full professor, over the course of the academic career, and the difference in salary is not very great. Of course there are a few "stars" at major research universities with endowed chairs who do better, but it is not a career that people go into for the money.

A number of years ago I was at a university where the faculty went on strike, and one of the sticking points was the low salaries for faculty in areas like this, which at the time were barely over $20,000. One of my colleagues, angry at the lack of agreement between administration and faculty, said, "Don't they realize that no one should go into a field like that unless they have inherited money?" I think that said it very well.

Opi mentioned an hourly rate for faculty. It sounds wonderful, but realize that it is not a rate for a 40-hour week, but for maybe 3 to 9 hours a week of contact hours for a part-time instructor (professors aren't paid by the hour). Usually part-time faculty are paid $2,500 to $4,000 per course, and they can't teach more than about 4 courses per year.

Answer 2

the going rate is $25 an hour but you may only get one class. You may have to teach at 3 or 4 colleges just to scratch a living out.

You need to put a course sylabus together, pick a book and convince the college to give you space. You have to have enough students enrol or they might close the class and your out of work.

If you do well they might give you a second class.

One of the ways to do things is to get a grant or fellowship that pays you some $$$ and then you affiliate with a college to do your research at.

You have to look a t writing papers and possibly a book.

The idea is to get a school to take you and keep you and expand your work.

That may end up being at a community college

you have to go from entry level with one class to getting more classes and eventualy getting a status as an assist or associ prof and then a full professor

then getting tenure as a full time inistructor

You may have to wrk both day and night divisions initially

A starting history teacher I knew was only making $8K at two colleges

To be frank philosophy is a teaching only major

you teach kids who go off and teach kids

it's not really a practical field unless you become and inovator.

the only practical applications I can see is in the field of ethics

Answer 3

People become philosophy professors because they love philosophy--not because they want to make money. Faculty positions in general are not the most lucrative around, and philosophy professors are somewhere near the low end of the scale. If you're interested in moving into administration eventually--maybe serving as a dean or department chair while teaching a couple of classes each semester--you can make a decent living.

Answer 4

at a community college in CA it is around $80-90 hr/ for beginners! It gets higher for State and UC