4 ms·

I'm on an advisory board for the CS department at the local CC. They have a real problem hiring teachers, because their students end up making more than them at

I'm on an advisory board for the CS department at the local CC. They have a real problem hiring teachers, because their students end up making more than them at an entry level. And not just a little more, a lot more. So anyone they hire to teach the material is poached almost immediately, or quits due to despair at the situation. Not sure how to fix this, but it's a terrible situation for an educational institution.

culopatin 4y ago
Does your CC require a PhD to teach basic COP classes?
- ModernMech 4y ago
  No, it's a Master's or Bachelor's + experience that's required.
dopeboy 4y ago
Can you ask them why they pay their teachers so little? I would think a CS lecturer is more valuable than your run of the mill admin.
- ModernMech 4y ago
  What makes you assume run-of-the-mill admin at a CC are paid well, or better? Anyway, as far as the school is concerned, they can survive without a robust or effective CS department, but they can't survive without the admin, which is true. It takes a lot of work to run a college, and CS profs aren't the ones who do that. Paying more to better CS profs doesn't make financial sense, because they're not going to yield more students as a result. So they'd be dumping more money on a teacher to teach the same number of students. And no matter what they could pay them, it wouldn't be enough to offset what they could make in industry.
- blandcoffee 4y ago
  I don't dispute your claim (and am personally swayed of the argument of technical > admin in most situations) - do you have data that shows this disparity? Purely conjecture (which means absolutely nothing), I've always assumed that admin:faculty rates are similar, but the volume is where it matters (ie. 2x more admin:faculty in headcount).
  - dopeboy 4y ago
    I don't, but suppose on a pure hourly basis they're paid the same. I think that's still unfair, given the amount of value a CS lecturer delivers over an admin.

culopatin 4y ago

Does your CC require a PhD to teach basic COP classes?

ModernMech 4y ago
No, it's a Master's or Bachelor's + experience that's required.

dopeboy 4y ago

Can you ask them why they pay their teachers so little? I would think a CS lecturer is more valuable than your run of the mill admin.

ModernMech 4y ago
What makes you assume run-of-the-mill admin at a CC are paid well, or better? Anyway, as far as the school is concerned, they can survive without a robust or effective CS department, but they can't survive without the admin, which is true. It takes a lot of work to run a college, and CS profs aren't the ones who do that. Paying more to better CS profs doesn't make financial sense, because they're not going to yield more students as a result. So they'd be dumping more money on a teacher to teach the same number of students. And no matter what they could pay them, it wouldn't be enough to offset what they could make in industry.
blandcoffee 4y ago
I don't dispute your claim (and am personally swayed of the argument of technical > admin in most situations) - do you have data that shows this disparity? Purely conjecture (which means absolutely nothing), I've always assumed that admin:faculty rates are similar, but the volume is where it matters (ie. 2x more admin:faculty in headcount).
- dopeboy 4y ago
  I don't, but suppose on a pure hourly basis they're paid the same. I think that's still unfair, given the amount of value a CS lecturer delivers over an admin.