Ever wondered how much money your professors make? According to a recent report, it’s likely less than they’d be making elsewhere.
UW Madison lags far behind other peer institutions, which include University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and Purdue University, with full professors being paid on average $36,000 less than their peers at other colleges, according to the Faculty Salary Comparison Report for 2016-17.
Although UW-Madison professors are expected to receive a 4 percent raise in the coming year, they do not come close to the median salary of professors at comparable institutions, according to the same report. In order to reach that median, professors would instead require a 9.3 percent pay increase, which translates to an overall $23.9 million.
David J. Vanness, an Associate Professor of Population Health Sciences at UW-Madison, says while he is grateful for the pay increase, there is much room for improvement in professor’s salaries on a local and national scale. He added that professors at state colleges are paid even less.
“I actually make less money now than I did in 2002 when I worked at the Mayo Clinic, where I made about $6,000 more than I do today,” said Vanness. “In my field, my salary is half or less than half of what I would make in the private sector, rather than in academia.”
According to Daniel S. Hamermesh, a professor of economics at Barnard College, the pay disparity between identically trained individuals in academic versus private sector jobs “can be attributed to the flexible scheduling that comes with an academic life.”
However, Vanness says that he and other professors are under constant pressure from their jobs and “never feel that they are entirely off the clock.”
Members of the UW-Madison administration have also acknowledged the problem.
“Providing competitive pay for faculty, staff and graduate students remains one of the most pressing challenges in keeping UW-Madison a world-class institution,” Letters and Sciences Dean Karl Scholz said. “We have made progress in recent years through a variety of mechanisms and will do everything we can to continue that progress.”
But the problem may have roots that extend much deeper, sprouting from national perception and policy surrounding education. According to Vanness, American education has become increasingly unaffordable for students. Universities have therefore been making cuts, which include teacher salaries.
In 2016, Governor Scott Walker cut $250 million from the UW System. On a national level, President Trump plans to cut the Education Department’s funds by 13.5 percent. According to Vanness, there must be more recognition of the importance of the education system in America.
“Ultimately, the result of these cuts could be a lower quality of education for students,” Vanness said. “I hope that we recapture the idea that education is something that should be invested in by society, and restore our commitment to education as a public good, and that means restoring funding.”
Luisa de Vogel contributed to this report.
