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> My salary as a Unit-18 lecturer with a 100% appointment was about 100K annual compensation until our union's strike and new contract brought it to be about 10

> My salary as a Unit-18 lecturer with a 100% appointment was about 100K annual compensation until our union's strike and new contract brought it to be about 107K. I cannot muster a lot of sympathy for people choosing between 6 figure careers. It's not reasonable to expect a university to be able to match rates of one of the highest paying careers in industry. If universities try to match industry costs for all of their employees, those costs will just be passed on to graduates in the form of more student debt, which is already enough of a crisis. She should take the higher paying opportunities available to her, and the university should find someone who is happy with what they can afford for the position.

Hermitian909 4y ago
> It's not reasonable to expect a university to be able to match rates of one of the highest paying careers in industry. If universities try to match industry costs for all of their employees, those costs will just be passed on to graduates in the form of more student debt, which is already enough of a crisis. This may be true for lesser colleges, but Berkeley has a 4.8 billion dollar endowment and is teaching some of our brightest minds. They can eat the cost. It's also worth noting that 6 figure salaries don't go nearly so far in the Bay Area. Food, rent, and services are more expensive here than in most of the state, and taxes are higher than in most of the country. A rough estimate, I'd put this salary as equivalent to 65-70k somewhere like Boise, Idaho.
- ChrisLomont 4y ago
  >Berkeley has a 4.8 billion dollar endowment Endowments are not simply a pool of money sitting around spendable on anything. They are generally composed of thousands and thousands of donations, each with specific requirements for that donation. Some may be scholarships, some to fund specific research projects, some to specific departments or groups (and again with strings attached). A better indicator of is the salary reasonable, is are there ample job applicants for the positions? If people choose this position over all their other options than this pay is market clearing, paying more is simply taking money from other productive uses.

Hermitian909 4y ago

> It's not reasonable to expect a university to be able to match rates of one of the highest paying careers in industry. If universities try to match industry costs for all of their employees, those costs will just be passed on to graduates in the form of more student debt, which is already enough of a crisis. This may be true for lesser colleges, but Berkeley has a 4.8 billion dollar endowment and is teaching some of our brightest minds. They can eat the cost. It's also worth noting that 6 figure salaries don't go nearly so far in the Bay Area. Food, rent, and services are more expensive here than in most of the state, and taxes are higher than in most of the country. A rough estimate, I'd put this salary as equivalent to 65-70k somewhere like Boise, Idaho.

ChrisLomont 4y ago
>Berkeley has a 4.8 billion dollar endowment Endowments are not simply a pool of money sitting around spendable on anything. They are generally composed of thousands and thousands of donations, each with specific requirements for that donation. Some may be scholarships, some to fund specific research projects, some to specific departments or groups (and again with strings attached). A better indicator of is the salary reasonable, is are there ample job applicants for the positions? If people choose this position over all their other options than this pay is market clearing, paying more is simply taking money from other productive uses.