“Unfortunately, the reality was and still is that I found myself working for the love of teaching and not so much for the love of my earnings. It was great to have health insurance and other benefits of full-time employment, however, the net paycheck was and still is meager.”
Thank you for reading a brief account of my experience as a Massachusetts Community College faculty member. My teaching career began 29 years ago as an adjunct. For the first 12 years I made ends meet by working at various higher ed institutions. I felt although the pay wasn’t great and I ran around from one college to another in both RI and MA, there was definitely a sense of fulfillment working with young adults who had aspirations of meeting their educational and ultimately career goals. I joyfully always did my best to bring students a positive and meaningful classroom experience. This was the upside of my job. However, I can definitely speak to the challenge of having to stretch every dollar as an adjunct instructor to meet my household expenses. I longed for a full time position which doesn’t come up often in most areas of the college. You can imagine my sense of relief when a full-time position did come up for me. I thought there would be a bit of financial relief when I was hired as a full-time faculty member. Unfortunately, the reality was and still is that I found myself working for the love of teaching and not so much for the love of my earnings. It was great to have health insurance and other benefits of full-time employment, however, the net paycheck was and still is meager. As a single mom raising children and now always in one way or another supporting my children, I found the reality is that it is not possible to support a household on my net full-time paycheck. Pay raises never really cover inflation, cost of living nor the ability to have a more comfortable lifestyle. As a result, I found myself taking on extra work as an adjunct mostly at night. For many years and until the day I retire, I will have to carry a full time day load including college service, advising and the other duties of a full time faculty member, as well as, having to work 2-3 nights per week as an adjunct. Unfortunately, even these efforts to keep up with expenses are starting to pale in the face of rising cost of living expenses and continued low wages. I assure you that my annual income working full-time days and part-time nights (sometimes full time at night) allows me and my family a ‘very’ modest lifestyle. Aside from the impact of low wages on me personally, there is also an impact on the joy, energy and time I can afford students while working so many hours per week. I remain committed to my passion for being able to make a positive shift for students, however, I admit there are aspects of my approach and ability to reach as many students as possible that are fatigued. Additionally, increased enrollment due to Mass Reconnect, adds to the workload which makes a currently difficult situation even more challenging. There is so much more to my story that’s beyond the scope of this letter. I hope the takeaway is that you can try to imagine the quest of a sincere teacher who loves teaching, who’s greatest joy is watching students gain skills, yet who consistently feels defeated by the fatigue of working day and night having to live within the confined budget of an underpaid professional. Your support to pass legislation for equitable wages for Massachusetts Community College faculty and staff is very much appreciated for the wellbeing of not only my family but also for that of my colleagues.