What are the facts?
Lecturers are teaching-focused faculty members who are not on the tenure-track system. They teach over 30% of credit hours at the UC, and up to 60% on some campuses.
The vast majority of UC lecturers are on 1-year or shorter contracts, at the end of which they have to re-apply for their jobs, with no guarantee that they will be given proper consideration.
Pop Quiz
On average, how many years does it take new lecturers to achieve continuing status, and thus stop having to re-apply to their job each year?
Trick question! The vast majority of lecturers (over 90%) NEVER achieve continuing status - nor do they even get to apply for it, since the soonest they can do so is after 6 full years of teaching.
Explore further: Job INstability
Pop Quiz
What was the median UC lecturer income in 2019?
$ 19,067
$ 49,067
$ 89,067
$ 109,067
The correct answer is 1. $ 19,067
A confluence of factors contribute to this eye-popping number:
Only 3 out of every 10 lecturers are given full time contracts
Nearly 1 in 3 lecturers (1 in 2 new lecturers) are churned out from one academic year to the next
The starting full-time salary (which very few get) in 2021 is $ 56,945.
Explore further: Poverty wages