Who said underpaid? (Not me. )
DMulvee wrote:
SouthCarolinaTea wrote:
This doesn't reflect most.
Let me offer a different - and from what I experience with my colleagues - realistic perspective.
My wife and I are both college professors. We make 100K each. We have PhDs from top business schools, and we could easily leave our positions and triple our salaries in industry (high opportunity cost - e.g., consulting alternative - necessitates higher salaries for faculty). We put in 40-60 hrs week - which includes papers, reviews, teaching (this takes > 50% of our time), etc. We have flexible schedules, but we still need to put in the hours.
We're both at a B (tier) private school in the US. Tuition/room and board is ~ $60K. The students have access to us (and all other faculty) any day/time during the week. We teach our classes (largest class is 40 students) and grade all papers - NOT TAs. We try to deliver great lectures and give neat, applied assignments. We constantly update our course material and "reinvent" courses every 2 years or so (earlier if needed). We have office hours, and we're (actually) in our office for these. Oh, and we respond to student emails from our phones. We're willing to prepare letters of rec on moments notice and do our best to place students in solid positions. On average, our students make $60K upon graduating. (As well, students have full access to dean. She responds to all emails and will meet any student if she is in her office.)
Compare all of this to the experience of students at large public schools (e.g., no access to faculty, 200+ students in a class, TAs that often teach and always grade, lectures not updated for years, emails mostly ignored, office hours not existent or covered by grad student, elusive Dean that even faculty cannot reach, etc.).
In short, that $60K gets you a lot where I am...not saying all can afford it or should try to find a way to afford it...just that those who can are certainly getting a solid return on their investment.
My wife has her research group and teaches at Oxford Uni. Her research is world class and her teaching feedback is favourable compared with her peers.
You and your wife make double what she makes, so the idea that you are underpaid is crazy