“If community college under the MassEducate is now free to students, how much more should the state be investing in instructors who can practice their passion without concern for basics such as healthcare and retirement?”
When I think about retirement, I don’t imagine for me it’ looks like playing rounds of golf and consuming the earth’s resources. I intend to continue teaching and writing, my two loves. I likely will need to do these things in order to make a living well into my 70s.
I went back to school in my thirties, obtaining my master’s degree in English literature while a young mom of three. I took out loans to afford the kind of education I wanted for myself, and I’ve no regrets about school choice or career path. The fact that I can engage with students, young adults–from various socio-economic classes, with different language and cultural backgrounds–over poetry and history and rhetorical power, to me is a dream come true. The reality of my student loans though, at 52, exist.
I’ve been an adjunct for 12 years. I’ve taught everything from Native American novels to Humanities to developmental writing. My pay, per class, seems fair. Yes these past 12 years I have not saved much for retirement, aside from the nominal amount that the state sets aside to help me plan for a future when I may not be working as I do now. My husband alone carried the burden of healthcare for the five of us.
In the past, I’ve accepted four or five classes at a time, while juggling my family’s schedules, and a small farm’s demands.
We were able to put my older children through college mainly with my husband’s income, but again, that is money that could have been more equally distributed and nurtured for our intended future. Again, education has been paramount and we always consider it a priority. Our youngest is 16 and just beginning her independent journey in the world and we will do the same for her, God willing.
I’m a first-gen college student, having been raised by a single mom who took low-paying jobs. She never had the chance to get a higher education. My sisters and I became the first in our family to get graduate degrees, and we all work in fields that require this.
All this is to say, I wish that the budget of the state and the federal government respected the contribution of teachers in a more tangible way. I do wish that my student loans were completely forgiven. At 53, the balance is still almost $50,000, though I have been paying for decades.
My family is not suffering. We have a home, pets, a strong community, friends, and our kids have attended the schools of their choice. It’s really a matter though, of respect.
If community college under the MassEducate is now free to students, how much more should the state be investing in instructors who can practice their passion without concern for basics such as healthcare and retirement? And while we are on this topic, let’s increase the funding for more full-time instructors to distribute the burden and privilege of teaching the next generation to qualified folks, like me and the hundreds of adjuncts who love what they do so much, but who have had to prioritize living (and taking full time jobs in other arenas) in order to plan for a future that is abundant?