"When I try to explain why professors at small, private universities -- where tuition costs tend to be high -- usually earn significantly less than faculty memb

"When I try to explain why professors at small, private universities -- where tuition costs tend to be high -- usually earn significantly less than faculty members at more-affordable public universities, people shake their heads at the absurdity of academe." The people at the more-affordable public universities are usually there more for research than teaching. They are getting paid substantially more because the research brings in many more dollars than tuition nets. The professors that get big university research jobs are also usually from top notch, competitive programs. The numbers she is looking at for big universities still includes profs in areas like creative writing, but also the higher paid economics, engineering, and cs professors. "But if the average person reading U.S. News assumes that characterization is accurate -- the same person who, perhaps, sits on the governing board of a university and approves faculty raises each year -- then it's no wonder that faculty salaries are as low as they are on many campuses." Wait. Does anyone in academia actually take US News that seriously?