Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Investment in State College Faculty is a “No Brainer”

By Janelle C. Ashley and George W. Tetler III

There has been frequent discussion about the “brain drain” in Worcester and Massachusetts. Business and government leaders decry the loss of college graduates who move out of the Commonwealth to pursue careers elsewhere. Not so for Worcester State College graduates. Nearly 87% of our alumni live in Worcester County and hundreds of our graduates enter the region’s workforce every year. However, there is a concern that needs to be part of the conversation--the “brain drain” of our state college faculty. Due to low salaries, our ability to recruit and retain the best faculty and scholars is being compromised.

The most recent study on faculty salaries illuminates the stark reality that faculty at the nine Massachusetts state colleges earn substantially less than their peers at public colleges in other leading industrial states - California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.  When adjusted for the high cost of living in Massachusetts, state college faculty across all ranks earn $63,400, which is 14% less than their peers in other states who earn $74,500. Full professors, who have attained the highest academic rank, fare even worse. They earn 19% less than their peers when the high cost of living in Massachusetts is factored in, earning $74,700 compared to $91,900.

Continued deterioration of faculty salaries is not simply a campus or even an educational issue; it calls into question our future competitiveness as a region and as a state. The failure by the state to adequately compensate faculty sends a powerful message to our students that their education is not important to the people of Massachusetts. With 94% of Worcester State College students coming from the Commonwealth, our inability to compete for outstanding faculty should be of equal concern.

This study was conducted jointly by the chairs of the Boards of Trustees of the State Colleges and by the Council of Presidents of the State Colleges. Based on data provided by the College & University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), it replicates with current data a study the Colleges commissioned in 2004. While the more recent study reveals some relative improvement, those salaries still leave the State Colleges at a significant competitive disadvantage in their efforts to recruit and retain faculty of the highest quality.

The shortcomings were starkest in those fields that are critical to the future growth of our economy.  Average salaries for full professors in business administration and management were 19% less than their peers; they were 17% less in biology, 9% less in computer and information sciences, and 9% less in the physical sciences.

To compensate for the high cost of living in Massachusetts, the study additionally compared Massachusetts state college faculty against their peers with earnings at the 75th percentile. Based on this comparison, state college faculty at all ranks were underpaid by 14%, with full professors again the worst off, earning only 81 cents on the dollar compared to their peers.  The 75^th percentile is the benchmark the Board of Higher Education used to adjust faculty salaries at the Community Colleges beginning in 2002.

We are very proud of our faculty. They have chosen a teaching career over a research career—a decision that should be lauded. At Worcester State College, our students receive close, personal interaction with first-rate professors who have been essential in creating our environment of academic excellence. They deserve to be fairly compensated for the important, high quality instruction that they provide to the students of the Commonwealth and the Worcester region.

The ongoing disparity between what we are able to pay and what our competitors offer says more about the lack of support for public higher education in the state, than it does about our faculty. Low and declining support per capita threatens our economy and its well educated workforce. By investing in our state college faculty and in public higher education as a whole, we invest in our own future as a city and as a state.

Janelle C. Ashley is president of Worcester State College and George W. Tetler III is chair of the Board of Trustees at Worcester State College.

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