State report supports wage hikes for public higher education staff, faculty
A new report from a state commission out today takes on the issue of properly investing in the staff and faculty at public colleges and universities for the first time and identifies providing fair wages and benefits as essential to delivering Massachusetts residents debt-free access to high-quality, public higher education.
“Our members have been advocating for two decades to win debt-free access to public colleges and universities,” said Max Page, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. “Fair Share funds allowed the state to take a major step forward by making community colleges free for all and four-year public universities tuition free for working-class students. But the other side of the equation requires investment in faculty and staff.”
Staff and faculty at the state’s public higher education institutions routinely earn salaries that are well below the national average, when adjusted for cost of living. The difference was largest for community college faculty, a $33,000 gap.
The report and recommendations compiled by the Commission on Higher Education Quality and Affordability illuminate the importance of the state providing the supports that students need, not only to attend college, but to succeed and graduate. This includes funding student support programs, such as SUCCESS, which provide tutoring, mentoring, and other targeted services.
The report also recognizes the crisis created by underpaying faculty and staff at public colleges and universities. Without fair and competitive wages and benefits, Massachusetts public colleges and universities are struggling to hire and retain a diverse mix of faculty and staff, making it more challenging to support students to the extent they need and deserve. Faculty and staff, likewise, report on having to work multiple jobs, reducing how much time they ware able to devote to students.
Page and Claudine Barnes, president of the Massachusetts Community College Council and a faculty member at Cape Cod Community College, served on the commission. They and other MTA members presented information on the need to increase wages for the faculty and staff working at public campuses.
The commission learned firsthand how low wages and demanding working conditions at our public colleges and universities are making it increasingly difficult to attract qualified candidates to work on campuses.
The MTA compared salary data for faculty and staff at Massachusetts public colleges and universities with similar data from public colleges and universities in surrounding, economically comparable states. The MTA also received more than 3,000 responses to a survey on wages it sent to members working in public higher education.
Low wages leave many struggling to make ends meet, forcing them to take on additional jobs, which hinders their ability to provide students with the support they need to succeed, and makes it harder for colleges and universities to recruit and retain the staff and faculty our students deserve.
Staff and faculty at the state’s public higher education institutions routinely earn salaries that are well below the national average, when adjusted for cost of living In FY2023-24. This difference was largest for faculty at community colleges, a $33,000 gap.
Faculty who responded to the survey noted the need to work multiple jobs and made comments, such as, they are “not able to take on additional responsibilities in my faculty role (e.g., mentoring students, advising student organizations, etc.) This means that students do not get real-life experience doing research or building partnerships.”
Faculty and staff also noted that low wages had prompted them to delay life milestones, such as starting families, or required them to take on debt, curtail utility usage or rely on area food banks.
When Massachusetts made community colleges tuition-free, enrollment skyrocketed, but faculty and staff vacancies persist as our colleges offer the lowest wages both in the region and among peer states.
The commission saw how the high cost of living in Massachusetts has an impact on both hiring workers and making it possible for students to attend a public college or university.
The state Legislature created CHEQA to make recommendations on cost, student supports, financial aid and retention of faculty and staff at public colleges and universities. This panel of educators, civic leaders, businesspeople and legislators found common ground on the need to invest more heavily in student success — by knocking down financial barriers to public higher education, offering programs that enhance a student’s ability to earn a degree or complete a program on time, and fixing the pay and working conditions of staff and faculty at all three levels of public higher education.
Tuition-free, universal access to community college and programs to cover tuition and other costs related to attending four-year public universities for working families are changing lives for the better, strengthening communities and fueling the Massachusetts economy.
“The CHEQA report is an important recognition of the value of public higher education in Massachusetts,” said MTA Vice President Deb McCarthy. “State officials can tap revenue generated by the Fair Share Amendment and begin structural funding improvements that support student success, eliminate cost as a hurdle for anyone who is ready to attend a public college or university, and establish wages and working conditions that ensure we have the faculty and staff necessary to allow our public higher education system to flourish, despite the Trump administration’s efforts to stifle higher education.”