Faculty Compensation Survey Instructions
Updated November 4, 2024
The 2024-25 Faculty Compensation Survey opens on December 3, 2024 and will close on February 21, 2025. All data on full-time faculty should be reported as of November 1, 2024.
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FCS Portal Registration
Start: If you are not certain whether you are registered in our system, click "Start" on the survey home page and enter your email address. You will have the option of resetting your password, if needed. (Check your spam folder.) If you are a new user for the survey, an existing "data manager" user can register you in the FCS portal using the "Add a User" function under the "Manage Your Institution's Users" on the far right-hand side of the user menu. If this procedure is not available, click "Start" on the survey home page. Complete the required information, including designating an institution, and save. Your registration request will be submitted to the AAUP FCS staff for approval, and you will be notified by email when your registration has been approved.
Login: Registered users can log in using their institutional email addresses and passwords. If you have forgotten your password, click the "Get a New Password" link and instructions for setting a new password will be emailed to you. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.
User Profile: Prior to beginning data entry for the survey, please verify your personal contact information in the "Manage Your Account" section, which can be found under the tab bearing your name on the far right-hand side of the user menu.
Starting the Faculty Compensation Survey
Survey Overview: To begin data entry on a new survey, log in to the FCS portal and click "Start." Verify your institutional information, update your institution's users, accept the terms and conditions of the survey, and update your professional title. The "Data Collection" tab will now appear, which will allow you navigate to the "Data Overview" menu. This provides users with the overall survey completion status indicated by a progress bar.
Two options for data entry:
- MS-Excel template data file upload. You may upload data directly from the MS-Excel template into the FCS portal. To do this, navigate to the “Data Collection” tab and select "Data Upload Template." This is the preferred method as this file provides preliminary data validation and a record of your data submission for future reference.
- Enter data directly in the FCS portal forms. To do this, navigate to the "Data Collection" tab and select the corresponding forms (Form 1 to Form 6) to enter data into the online forms. Even if you prefer to enter data directly into the FCS portal, we strongly recommend that you enter data into the MS-Excel template first. The MS-Excel template can then be saved for your institution's records.
Instructions for Data Upload Using the MS-Excel Survey Template: Uploading data using the MS-Excel survey template is the preferred method as the template has additional data validation mechanisms that help ensure accurate data submissions. Begin by downloading the MS-Excel survey template: choose the "Data Collection" tab from the menu and select "Data Upload Template." If your institution has previously participated in the survey, download the "Pre-populated template," which will pre-populate with the Form 1: Institutional Information data. If your institution is new to the Faculty Compensation Survey, download the "Blank template." Download the appropriate template, fill in the forms that apply to your institution, and save your template. Upload your completed MS-Excel survey template on the “Data Upload Template” page. After verifying that the completed template uploaded correctly and all data issues have been resolved, click “Submit Your Data" on the "Data Overview" page to complete your data submission.
*Note on Copy/Paste in MS-Excel: Improperly formatted data may create problems for the validation checks and formulas built into the MS-Excel template. For best results, when pasting data into the MS-Excel template from another source, use only the "Paste Values" function. If you paste in values with decimal points or commas, the file may not function properly.
Note that if there is an issue with your data upload or validation, you will receive a message about making corrections. Data uploads and corrections may be made multiple times until the upload is successful. You will need to refresh the "Overview" page in your browser to see the result of the upload.
Instructions for Data Entry in the FCS Portal: Each online form of the survey is completed separately. Once you have finish entering data for any form, make sure to click "Save" or "Save and Continue Editing" to save your data in the FCS portal. You may exit at any time and return later to complete the survey. After completing data entry and resolving any data issues, click "Submit" on the "Overview" page to complete your data submission. The portal will populate the total columns and will calculate averages as you enter data. If the entire section of a form is not visible on your screen, use the scroll bars to scroll down to the remaining sections.
Order of Forms: Although it is not necessary to submit the forms in order, please verify and correct your institutional information (Form 1) first, since some data validation is based on institutional categories.
Survey Submission: After completing each form, make sure to save your data entry before moving on. Once all data issues have been resolved, click the "Submit" button on the "Overview" page to complete your data submission. After submitting your data, it will be locked and you will not be able to make further revisions. If you need to make any revisions to your data submission, go to the "Data Overview" page and click "Request Unlock" to notify the AAUP FCS staff. After data submission, the FCS staff will run additional validation checks and will contact respondents if there are additional data issues.
Data Validation in the FCS Portal: Automatic validation occurs each time you upload data or save a survey form. The FCS portal has built-in validation checks that identify any outlier values. If there are possible errors or unexpected values, a "Data Issue" message will appear on the "Data Overview” page. Any data issue that arises should be resolved prior to data submission. Please use the comment section to explain any unresolved data issues.
Understanding the Validation Messages: All validation messages specify the survey section where the issue is found. Most messages are specific to the rank and contract length (9- or 12-month). Faculty gender is specified for Form 2. Some messages are based on a comparison to data from the previous year. In Form 3 (Full-Time Faculty Benefits), some of the messages are based on an expectation that most faculty will be covered by retirement and medical plans.
Form 1: Institutional Information
For IPEDS Unit ID, Institution Name, Institutional Control, AAUP Category, and AAUP FCS System, you do not need to enter data into these fields as they will be pre-populated based on prior data. If you would like to make a change to more accurately reflect an institutional characteristic, please contact the AAUP FCS staff at aaupfcs@aaup.org.
IPEDS Unit ID: This field indicates the institutional identification number as previously assigned by NCES and should automatically pre-populate in Form 1. It is aligned to institutional reporting made available through IPEDS.
Institution Name: The institution's full name and abbreviated publication name cannot be edited here. If the institution's name has changed, please contact the AAUP FCS staff at aaupfcs@aaup.org.
Institutional Control: This field should automatically pre-populate in Form 1 and is aligned to institutional reporting made available through IPEDS. If Institutional Control information has changed or is not provided to IPEDS or the AAUP Faculty Compensation Survey, please contact the AAUP FCS staff at aaupfcs@aaup.org.
AAUP Category: This field is assigned to your institution by the AAUP FCS staff and indicates your institution’s type based on the type and number of degrees awarded. If you believe the AAUP category listed for your institution is incorrect, please contact the AAUP FCS staff at aaupfcs@aaup.org.
Click here for a listing of AAUP Institutional Categories.
AAUP FCS System: This field indicates if the institution is reporting as part of an institutional system for the purposes of the AAUP Faculty Compensation Survey. This field is not necessarily indicative of all institutions within eligible systems or the higher education population.
Publication Footnote: This field displays the Appendix I & II (full-time faculty) footnote from the previous year, if applicable. This value will be listed in the appendices of the AAUP’s Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession. You are not required to enter or edit this field.
Appendix III Footnote: This field displays the Appendix III (part-time faculty) footnote from the previous year, if applicable. This value will be listed in the appendices of the AAUP’s Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession. You are not required to enter or edit this field.
Conversion Factor: Completion of this field is necessary only if you report salary data for faculty on 11- or 12-month contracts. Enter the conversion factor used to convert 11- or 12-month amounts to a standard (9- or 10-month) equivalent. Historically, AAUP and IPEDS have used 9/11 or 0.81818181818 as a default conversion factor. However, another value may be more appropriate depending on the exact lengths of the faculty contracts at an institution. The conversion factor will be used to automatically convert 11- or 12-month amounts for the totals in the last section, "Faculty on 9- or 10-Month Contracts plus 11- or 12-Month Contracts,” once the user completes the form and clicks “Save.” The conversion factor will be applied automatically to Forms 2, 3, and 4 for faculty on 11- or 12-month contracts, with the exception of health insurance premiums.
If you wish to convert 12-month amounts equally into 9-month equivalent period, please use a conversion factor of 0.75. If you are working with data that has already been converted, please enter the converted total figures in Form 1: Institutional Information and for each additional form add a comment in Form 1 to that effect. A conversion factor of 1.0 assumes an institution has already pre-converted the data to a 9-month salary, if applicable.
Comments: Please enter any comments that you would like to provide to the AAUP FCS staff concerning your submission. You are not required to enter this field.
Form 2: Full-Time Faculty Salaries
Report the number of faculty members (unduplicated head count) and projected base salary expenditures for full-time faculty members based on the following eligibility criteria:
Whom to Include on Form 2
- Full-time faculty members who are on the payroll of the institution as of November 1, 2024 and working 9-, 10-, 11-, or 12-month contracts, including those paid through third-party payroll management companies.
- Full-time “Primarily Instructional” and “Instruction Combined with Research and/or Public Service” faculty members whose regular assignment has an instruction component (including release time for research), regardless of whether they are formally designated as "faculty" and irrespective of tenure status. (See the FAQ for further details.)
- Faculty who are working on a reduced load (e.g., 0.75 FTE) but who are still considered full-time in the institution's HR/payroll system. In this case, report their projected annual salary expenditures by determining what their base salary would be for a full load (e.g., salary / FTE).
- Full-time faculty members who are on sabbatical or leave with pay. In this case, report their regular salaries even though they may be receiving reduced salaries while on sabbatical or leave.
- Replacement faculty for those on sabbatical or leave without pay, but only if the replacement faculty are employed full-time. If the replacement faculty are employed part-time on a per-course-section basis, they should be reported on Form 6.
Whom to Exclude from Form 2
- Faculty who are not employed on a full-time basis irrespective of tenure status.
- Faculty who are working less-than-9-month contracts.
- Clinical* or basic science faculty, medical faculty, and/or military faculty paid on a different scale from civilian employees. (See the FAQ for further details.)
- Extreme outliers. Exclude faculty whose base salary falls well outside the norm for a particular rank. (See the FAQ for further details.)
- Faculty on sabbatical or leave without pay.
- Replacement faculty for those on sabbatical or leave with pay. If the replacement faculty are employed part-time on a per-course-section basis, they should be reported on Form 6.
- Research faculty and other faculty who do not have a contractual instructional role, such as Research Assistant or Associate, Research Professor, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, or Research Fellow.
- Faculty on courtesy appointments and other faculty members whose services are valued by bookkeeping entries rather than by full cash transactions, unless their salaries are determined by the same principles as those who do not donate their services.
- Contributed service personnel, or administrative officers with titles such as Provost, Dean, Associate or Assistant Dean, Librarian, Counselor, Registrar, or Coach, even though they may devote part of their time to classroom instruction and may have faculty status.
*In the past, the AAUP generally advised that faculty with “clinical” in their title be excluded from the survey. In recent years, the proliferation of non-tenure track titles has made it difficult to delineate comparable categories for a national survey based solely on job titles. Therefore, we generally advise that full-time instructional faculty with “clinical” job titles be included as long as they meet all other eligibility criteria (e.g., not medical or military faculty).
Academic Rank: Report the academic rank as of November 1, 2024, as follows:
- Report ranked faculty, including ranked teaching faculty (e.g., associate teaching professor), at their named rank at the institution, irrespective of tenure status.
- Report full-time faculty members on visiting appointments* (see below), “Post-Doctoral Faculty” who have instruction as part of their contractual responsibilities, and “Other Regular Faculty” in the category of “Instructor.”
- If your institution does not have a faculty ranking system, for example if all faculty members are referred to as "instructors," report all faculty on as "No Rank."
For an elaborated list of faculty titles, please refer to our list of FCS faculty reporting categories.
*Visiting appointments are short-term, non-tenure-track positions held by individuals who ordinarily continue to hold tenure-track or tenured positions at other academic institutions. In the past, the AAUP asked that full-time faculty members with “visiting” in their titles be reported in the category of “Instructor,” but in recent years it became clear that some institutions assign “visiting” titles to faculty members holding other types of non-tenure-track appointments. In such cases, faculty members should be reported at their named ranks.
Length of contract: Data for faculty whose base contract requires 9 or 10 months of instruction (e.g., two semesters, three quarters, or two trimesters) should be reported in Section 1 regardless of whether the pay period extends over 12 months. Data for faculty working 11- or 12-month contracts should be reported in Section 2 regardless of the number of installments.
Number of Faculty: Report an unduplicated head count of faculty members in each cell. Do not report full-time equivalent (FTE) figures. Note that projected annual base salary expenditures should be adjusted, if necessary, for faculty working on reduced load (see below).
Total Contracted Base Salaries (Faculty Salary Outlays): Report the projected annual expenditure for full-time contracted base salaries excluding extra loads, summer teaching, stipends, or other forms of remuneration. For faculty working on a reduced loads (e.g., 0.75 FTE), adjust the projected annual salary expenditures by determining what their base salaries would be for a full load (e.g., salary ÷ FTE).
For full-time instructional faculty serving as department or program heads and having no other administrative title, report only their base instructional salary (i.e., excluding administrative stipends), adjusting their projected annual salary expenditures if appropriate by determining what their base salary would be for a full instructional load (e.g., salary ÷ FTE).
In both sections, Report all projected annual expenditures on an actual basis (no conversion). If applicable (i.e., you reported faculty in both sections), salary expenditures for faculty working 11- and 12-month contracts will be annualized using the conversion factor you reported on Form 1. Alternatively, you may annualize the salary expenditures yourself; in this case, please enter a conversion factor of 1.0 on Form 1.
Tenure Status: The total number of faculty should be divided into three mutually exclusive categories: non-tenure-track, on tenure-track, and tenured. If your institution does not have a tenure system, please enter the total number in the non-tenure-track column.
Were any extreme outliers excluded?: Please indicate (Yes/No) whether any extreme outliers were excluded from Form 2 as described in the inclusion/exclusion criteria above. (See the FAQ for further details.)
Note on Gender Classifications (Men/Women): Following the model of IPEDS, faculty members with unknown or non-binary genders should still be reported in the survey and it is up to the institution to determine how to assign them to either category (men or women). According to the IPEDS HR Survey FAQ, “A common method used is to allocate the individuals with gender unknown based on the known proportion of men to women for staff.”
Form 3: Full-Time Faculty Benefits
Report the projected total annual expenditures that will be paid by the institution or state, the number covered (eligible), and the number participating for the full-time faculty members reported in Form 2.
Whom to Include on Form 3
- Faculty members who meet all Form 2 inclusion criteria. (See the Form 2 Instructions for further details.)
- Faculty members who are covered (eligible) for retirement plans or health insurance plans, regardless of whether the institution contributes to the benefit plans.
Whom to Exclude from Form 3
- Faculty members who are ineligible based on the Form 2 exclusion criteria. (See the Form 2 Instructions for further details.)
Length of Contract: Report data by contract length using the same method as on Form 2. (See the Form 2 Instructions for further details.)
Retirement: Include the projected total annual contribution by the institution, state, and/or local government to the retirement plan(s) but exclude payments for unfunded retirement liability, prepaid retiree health insurance, and social security. (See the FAQ regarding Emeriti or other retirement health insurance plans.)
Total Health Insurance Premiums: Include projected total annual premiums for insurance plans combining medical, dental, and other healthcare, but excluding long-term disability, Medicare, life insurance, health savings account contributions, and other benefits that were historically collected as "other benefits in kind."
Total Annual Expenditure: Include the projected total annual expenditure for the current academic year by the institution, state, and/or local government for each benefit. Do not include employee contributions should not be included when determining the dollar value of benefits.
Number Covered (Eligible): Report the number of faculty members who are eligible to participate in the benefit plan, regardless of whether the institution contributes to the benefit plan. It is therefore possible for faculty members to be "covered" by a benefit plan even if there are $0 in institutional expenditures. For example, insititutions that require vesting periods before making contributions to retirement plans should still report those faculty members as covered (eligible) if the faculty members can choose to make their own contributions. This is consistent with IRS guidelines for reporting coverage.
When expenditure is reported for a given benefit plan, the number of faculty members covered (eligible) must also be reported. The number of faculty members covered cannot exceed the number of faculty members reported on Form 2.
The “total” number covered (eligible) for combined benefits is calculated as the maximum number covered (eligible) for either benefit.
Number Participating: Report the number of faculty members who participate in the benefit plan, regardless of whether the institution contributes to the benefit plan. It is therefore possible for faculty members to participate in a benefit plan even if there are $0 in institutional expenditures.
When expenditure is reported for a given benefit plan, the number of faculty members participating must also be reported. The number of faculty members participating cannot exceed the number of faculty members covered (eligible).
The “total” number participating for combined benefits is calculated as the maximum number participating for either benefit.
Dependent Tuition Benefits: Report the availability of these benefits only, not the total expenditures or number covered. Use the drop-down menus for each category to select the benefits that are available to dependents of faculty members. The categories are: Tuition waiver at institution; Tuition waiver at specified institutions through a consortium or system; Competitive scholarship programs, such as Tuition Exchange; Tuition benefit varies based on years of service; and Other dependent tuition benefits (with an open-text response field). Please report tuition benefits available to faculty dependents, not faculty members. If your institution provides other types of dependent tuition benefits that do not align with the categories provided, select Other and provide a description in the textbox.
Form 4: Full-Time Continuing Faculty Salaries
Report the number of full-time continuing faculty members, the projected base salary expenditures for the current year (2024-25), and the base salary expenditures for the previous year (2023-24).
Whom to Include on Form 4
- Faculty members who were employed full-time in 2023-24 (as of November 1, 2023) and remain employed full-time in 2024-25 (as of November 1, 2024) at the same contract length.
- Faculty members who meet all Form 2 inclusion criteria for both 2023-24 and 2024-25. (See the Form 2 Instructions for further details.)
Whom to Exclude from Form 4
- Faculty members who are ineligible for either year (2023-24 or 2024-25) based on the Form 2 exclusion criteria. (See the Form 2 Instructions for further details.)
- New hires for the current year (2024-25).
- Faculty members who departed after the previous year (2023-24).
- Faculty members whose contract lengths changed from 2023-24 to 2024-25, unless the 2024-25 base salary has been converted to its 2023-24 equivalent. (Contact the AAUP FCS staff at aaupfcs@aaup.org to discuss details.)
Length of Contract: Report full-time continuing faculty salaries by contract length using the same method as on Form 2. (See the Form 2 Instructions for further details.)
Previous Year (2023-24) Academic Rank: Report the academic rank held by continuing faculty members in the previous year (as of November 1, 2023) using the same method as on Form 2. (See the Form 2 Instructions for further details.)
Number of Continuing Faculty: Report the number of full-time continuing faculty members (unduplicated head count) who held the academic rank in the previous year (2023-24). Do not report full-time equivalent (FTE) figures.
Total Contracted Base Salaries: Report the annual expenditure for full-time contracted base salaries excluding extra loads, summer teaching, stipends, or other forms of remuneration using the same method as on Form 2. (See the Form 2 Instructions for further details.) For faculty working on a reduced loads (e.g., 0.75 FTE), adjust their projected annual salary expenditures by determining what their base salaries would be for a full load (e.g., salary ÷ FTE).
For each year, report total annual expenditure as follows:
Current Year (2024-25): Report the projected total annual expenditure for base salaries for the current year (2024-25) for all continuing faculty members who held the academic rank in the previous year (2023-24), regardless of if they changed ranks in the current year. For example, if a faculty member was an assistant professor in the previous year (2023-24) and was promoted to associate professor in the current year (2024-25), the faculty member’s current year salary would be represented on the assistant professor row, not on the associate professor row.
Previous Year (2023-24): Report the total annual expenditure for base salaries for all continuing faculty members who held the academic rank in the previous year (2023-24).
As on Form 2, annual base salaries should be adjusted, when appropriate, for faculty members working on reduced loads. (See the Form 2 Instructions for further details.)
Note: A negative change in this form means that the individuals in a particular rank took an overall cut in salary, which is generally not the case.
Click here to see example calculations for Form 4.
Form 5: Administrative Compensation
Report annual base salaries and supplements for administrators who were on the payroll as of November 1, 2024.
Confidentiality Notice: The figures supplied in this survey form will be used to calculate aggregate ratios of administrative salaries and they will not be published or disclosed for individual institutions.
Whom to Include on Form 5
- Administrators who were employed full-time as of November 1, 2024.
- Interim administrators who were fulfilling duties and receiving a salary based on that role.
- Administrators who were employed at multiple institutions or campuses. For such individuals, please report the annual contracted base salaries and supplements, and provide a comment indicating so.
Whom to Exclude from Form 5
- Administrators who were not employed full-time as of November 1, 2024.
- Interim administrators who were fulfilling duties of that role but not receiving a salary comparable to a typical administrator in that role.
Position: Report administrative compensation for one individual only for each of the following positions:
- President/Chancellor - The principal official responsible for all affairs and operations of the institution.
- Chief Academic Officer - The principal official responsible for the direction of the academic program of the institution.
- Chief Financial Officer - The principal official responsible for the direction of the financial affairs of the institution, including investments, accounting, purchasing, and budgets. In some cases, this may include the functions described for Chief Administration Officer below.
- Chief Development Officer - The principal official responsible for institutional fundraising. This individual may also be responsible for public information and other functions; however, if a separate and co-equal individual administers those programs, only include the fundraising function here.
- Chief Administration Officer - The principal official responsible for operation of the institution that is generally non-academic, non-financial, and includes operation of personnel, physical plant, property management, and auxiliary enterprises. Enter a figure only where this position is held by a separate individual, not if the function is administered by the Chief Financial Officer.
- Chief Counsel - The principal official responsible for advising the institution on legal rights, obligations, and related matters.
- Director of Enrollment Management - The principal official responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of strategies to sustain student enrollment. This individual may also be responsible for admissions, financial aid, and/or other functions; however, if a separate and co-equal individual administers those programs, only include the enrollment function here.
- Director of Athletics - The principal official responsible for the operation of intramural and intercollegiate programs including employment, scheduling, promotion, and maintenance of athletics.
Contracted Base Salary: Report the annual contracted base salary for the individual. For partial-year figures, convert to an annual basis and indicate that you have done so in the Comments field. "Salary" is the contractual base salary provided by the institution.
Supplement: Report the cash value of any supplemental compensation provided by the institution or a private foundation.
Form 6: Part-Time Faculty Pay, Previous Year (2023-24)
Report the number of part-time faculty members who were paid per course section in the prior academic year (2023-24), their base pay per course section, and their fringe benefits coverage.
Whom to Include on Form 6
- Part-time faculty members who were paid per course section to teach undergraduate course sections in the prior academic year (2023-24), with “undergraduate course section” defined below.
- Part-time faculty members who teach distance-learning (online or remote) course sections, unless they are paid on a different scale from those who teach in-person course sections.
- Part-time faculty members who are paid either per section directly or are assigned a certain full-time-equivalent (FTE) amount per section. For example, some institutions have a standard course load that represents 1.0 FTE for instructional faculty and allocate a proportion of FTE based on credit hours taught.
Whom to Exclude from Form 6
- Part-time faculty members who are salaried employees.
- Clinical or basic science faculty, medical faculty, and/or military faculty paid on a different scale from civilian employees. (See the FAQ for further details.)
- Casual employees, hired on an ad-hoc basis or occasional basis to meet short-term needs (e.g., to cover a few weeks of a course).
- Students in the Federal Work-Study (FWS) Program are not considered part-time faculty, even if they have an instructional component.
- Part-time faculty members who teach distance learning (online or remote) course sections and are paid on a different scale from those teaching in-person course sections.
Undergraduate Course Sections: Report pay for part-time faculty members teaching undergraduate course sections, per the Common Data Set (CDS) initiative, Form I-3, but also including distance learning course sections. Do not report pay for part-time faculty members teaching course subsections. The CDS instructions for 2024-25 described course sections and subsections as follows:
Class Sections: A class section is an organized course offered for credit, identified by discipline and number, meeting at a stated time or times in a classroom or similar setting, and not a subsection such as a laboratory or discussion session. Undergraduate class sections are defined as any sections in which at least one degree-seeking undergraduate student is enrolled for credit. Exclude distance learning classes and noncredit classes and individual instruction such as dissertation or thesis research, music instruction, or one-to-one readings. Exclude students in independent study, co-operative programs, internships, foreign language taped tutor sessions, practicums, and all students in one-on-one classes. Each class section should be counted only once and should not be duplicated because of course catalog cross-listings.
Class Subsections: A class subsection includes any subsection of a course, such as laboratory, recitation, and discussion subsections that are supplementary in nature and are scheduled to meet separately from the lecture portion of the course. Undergraduate subsections are defined as any subsections of courses in which degree-seeking undergraduate students enrolled for credit. As above, exclude noncredit classes and individual instruction such as dissertation or thesis research, music instruction, or one-to-one readings.
Number of Faculty: Report the number of faculty members (unduplicated head count) so that each faculty member is counted only once regardless of the number of course sections or terms taught.
Pay per 3-Credit-Hour Course Section: Report the minimum, maximum, and mean (average) base pay for teaching one undergraduate course section as defined above. Report actual salary expenditures as opposed to salary caps. However, institutions may provide policy-based answers for minimum and maximum values based on the institution's regulations where the exact empirical answers are difficult to obtain.
Convert pay per course section to 3-credit-hour equivalent pay, if applicable. For example, if a faculty member was paid $5,000 to teach a four-credit-hour course section, that would be converted as $5,000 × 3/4 = $3,750, which would then be used for reporting minimum, maximum, and mean pay per course section.
Convert pay for classes with low enrollment to equivalent pay for full enrollment. For example, if a faculty member was paid $2,000 to teach a course section with two students enrolled but would have been paid $5,000 if the class were fully enrolled, report the pay as $5,000 for the course section.
To calculate the mean salary, divide the (converted) total payout for all part-time faculty by the number of course sections taught. The mean pay per course section must fall between the minimum and maximum pay per course section.
If your institution generally has part-time faculty teaching outside of the 3-credit-hour course definition and has, for instance, a 4-credit-hour course standard, you may list the minimum, maximum, and mean for part-time faculty teaching a 4-credit-hour course section in lieu of converting the salaries. In that case, please provide a comment on the form so that a footnote can be added to the Annual Report appendices.
Benefits: For the two benefits questions, answer "Yes" if all part-time faculty members paid per course section receive an institutional contribution (for retirement or medical benefits), and "Some" if some, but not all, receive an institutional contribution. If the retirement program requires opting in (i.e., a match), answer "Some." Answer "No" if no part-time faculty members paid per course section receive an institutional contribution.