For UF adjunct professors, it’s great to be a Florida Gator.
While some universities might be cutting adjunct professors’ hours, UF will not.
Beginning in 2014, the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, states that anyone working more than 30 hours per week is considered a full-time employee and is mandated to receive healthcare from his or her employer.
To avoid this requirement, some colleges have cut adjunct hours.
Paula Fussell, UF’s vice president for human resource services, said she is surprised other institutions are cutting hours because universities are expecting to get some funding for temporary employee insurance.
“There is no plan at UF to reduce hours related to insurance,” she said.
UF employs about 140 adjunct professors this semester, Fussell said. The average salary ranges from $38,000 to $47,000, according to www.glassdoor.com.
Because of their considerably lower salaries, universities have opted to hire adjuncts instead of tenure-track faculty.
Wayne Wanta, chair for the UF Department of Journalism, said the number of adjuncts teaching in his department does not comply with the crediting standards because full-time faculty are supposed to teach a majority of the classes.
“The budget isn’t big enough for full-time faculty to teach all of the classes,” he said. “We are very fortunate with the quality of adjuncts that we have.”
Michelle Hinson, a public relations adjunct professor, said she gets paid $3,200 per class.
“They love adjuncts here at UF,” she said. “We don’t cost as much as full-time faculty.”
