Adjunct Faculty Use

Colleges’ reliance on adjuncts, or low-paid part-time instructors, to carry much of the teaching load at their institutions has long been one of higher education’s dirty little secrets. College lobbyists are fighting to keep it that way, as they are opposing efforts by Congress to shine a little light on their adjunct hiring policies.

Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate have approved Higher Education Act reauthorization bills that would require colleges to publicize to prospective students the number of adjuncts they employ. The American Council on Education and other college groups oppose these provisions, complaining that providing specific data on adjuncts would be burdensome for their institutions.

We’re sensitive to higher ed concerns regarding reporting burden. But given the choice among doing nothing, government actively regulating the use of adjuncts, or reporting to students and families, we vote for sunshine. In fact, Higher Ed Watch would urge lawmakers to go even further and require colleges to provide greater detail to prospective students about the types of courses that adjuncts teach.

Adjunct Faculty and Student Retention

In evaluating colleges, prospective students deserve to know the likelihood of whether they will be taught by full-time professors or adjuncts. This is not just an academic matter. Recent research has shown the negative impact that heavy use of adjuncts, particularly for teaching freshmen, has had on student academic performance and success.

For example, a new study, which will be published later this year, found that first-year college students are much more likely to drop out if they take a “gatekeeper course” with an adjunct instructor rather than with a full-time faculty member. The study, the results of which were presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in March, examined the transcripts of about 30,000 students who attended four public four-year universities in a southeastern state between 2002 and 2005. The researchers defined gatekeeper courses as large introductory classes that students must pass in order to continue on to higher level classes in a degree track.

The study found that students who took gatekeeper courses with adjuncts were “significantly less likely to return for their sophomore years,” according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. The study’s authors did not place the blame on the adjuncts themselves, but on institutional policies that make it difficult for students to interact with adjuncts outside of the classroom. Because adjuncts generally spend little time on campus, students can’t easily discuss their course work or get help outside of the classroom.

Other studies have found similar negative student outcomes, particularly related to student retention. One study, conducted by a University of Washington researcher, looked specifically at community colleges and observed that institutions with higher percentages of adjunct faculty had lower program completion rates. Another study, conducted for the National Bureau of Economic Research, looked at individual students and found that those with an adjunct-heavy course load in their first year of college were much more likely to drop out.

The Adjunct Faculty Trend, and the Growing Need for Transparency

The number of adjunct faculty has been quickly rising in recent years, while tenured, full-time faculty positions have grown at a much slower rate. In 1985, full-time professors represented 64 percent of all faculty members. Their share dropped to 59 percent in 1995 and 52 percent in 2005. Adjuncts represented 36 percent of all faculty members in 1985, and their share grew to 40 percent in 1995 and 48 percent in 2005.

Colleges generally hire adjuncts to save money. They typically are paid much less than regular faculty members and lack job security. Many also lack health care and retirement benefits.

As these studies indicate, colleges’ growing reliance on adjuncts comes at a cost to students. College leaders need to evaluate their use of adjuncts, particularly in teaching introductory courses and at community colleges where students often need more faculty support. (In addition, accrediting agencies should incorporate adjunct faculty information into their reviews; a new report finds they rarely consider adjuncts when performing faculty evaluations.)

College lobbyists may want to keep institution reliance on adjuncts hidden, but Congress shouldn’t let them. At the very least, colleges should be required to disclose their numbers of adjunct faculty to prospective students, and the Department should then publicize it on their website. We’d urge lawmakers to go further and require colleges to report what types of courses adjuncts are assigned to teach (e.g. freshman v. upper level courses). These are at least good first steps that could encourage colleges to slow adjunct growth and consider quality questions when they use adjuncts as a cost-saving measure

The American Council on Education says that it wants to strike the adjunct faculty reporting requirement in order to “streamline information [HEA bill] mandates to aid prospective students.” Not reporting adjunct faculty isn’t streamlining; it’s an omission that masks an indicator of college quality.