teaching at a community college with an MA

[tears for susan]

I just spoke to a friend of mine on the phone who has a master's degree in psych and is in charge of research analysis for a company (I like to think she knows what she is talking about). She told me that with an MA in psych, I could start teaching part time at a community college at about 25k per year, but eventually work my way up to full time with tenure, at 50-80k per year. She said that the really hardworking ones make up to 100k per year.
To me, this seemed to be too high to be correct. If you can make a 100k teaching at a CC with a general MA, then why arnt more people doing it? IS she accurate in her estimates? If so, how competitive are teaching jobs at CC's?
This may be a great job to have until I am able to pursue a doctorate.

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[Therapist4Chnge]

From my understanding, CC's use mostly/soley adjuncts to teach the courses. In general, adjunct pay isn't that great, and the $'s you cited seem more appropriate at larger universities, and much farther on in someone's career.....as associate profs aren't going to pull down 80k.

So in short, I think your friend is incorrect.

 

[psychlove]

I agree with the other poster. CC's are mostly adjunct and they make $10k carrying a full teaching load. Most have to work another job to make ends meet or live off their spouses' salary.

I know of professors at universities who don't even make $50k a year.

It seems more money can be made going into business than education.

 

[CalGal98]

I just spoke to a friend of mine on the phone who has a master's degree in psych and is in charge of research analysis for a company (I like to think she knows what she is talking about). She told me that with an MA in psych, I could start teaching part time at a community college at about 25k per year, but eventually work my way up to full time with tenure, at 50-80k per year. She said that the really hardworking ones make up to 100k per year.
To me, this seemed to be too high to be correct. If you can make a 100k teaching at a CC with a general MA, then why arnt more people doing it? IS she accurate in her estimates? If so, how competitive are teaching jobs at CC's?
This may be a great job to have until I am able to pursue a doctorate.

if you're in California, this is absolutely correct. Can't speak for other states. I posted about this in another thread as well.

People aren't doing this more because it's not easy work. You have to keep current with research and actually TEACH. You do have additional assignments beyond teaching (program coordination, serving on campus committees, development of new courses, etc). Plus, the CC population is very different from the university - age ranges from 16 - 80. I won't even get into the "status" of being a CC faculty member. You're like the evil stepchildren of the higher educational system.

if you can get past all that and don't care about status, then it's a great gig!

I encourage you to check salaries in your area - they will vary greatly.