Can I Have Some Faculty With My College?
The growth of contingent faculty reflects the increasing tendency of higher education institutions to operate like businesses. It’s no secret that this is a major feature of for-profit colleges, most of which have effectively eliminated tenure on the grounds that this will help flexibility and innovation.
But what is the actual staff breakdown in traditional and for-profit colleges?
I examined data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) maintained by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) combined with data from the Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity, and Accountability.
There were several surprises.
First, I was dismayed – given how critical some people are of the tenure system – to realize that tenured faculty