It’s not college faculty that are responsible for increases in college costs.
While the salaries and generous employment terms of professors are sometimes cited as the reason for the increasing cost of college, this isn’t really true says a recent report.
According to an article by Daniel de Vise in the Washington Post:
Average professor pay… declined by 1 percent last year, in inflation-adjusted dollars, according to the latest survey from the American Association of University Professors.
The overall average salary across all ranks of faculty rose 1.8 percent in 2011-12, to $82,556. That becomes a 1.2-percent drop after you factor in inflation. Full professors earned $113,176, but those at the instructor level pulled in just $47,847, less than the median pay for a tool and die maker.
According to the report, over the last 30 years tuition has increased much more than faculty salaries. In public colleges, adjusted for inflation, tuition has increased 72 percent since 2002; professors’ salaries increased by less than 1 percent.
Between 2006-7 and 2010-11, however, the median salaries of college presidents increased by almost 10 percent.
