Flip a coin.
Advice requested R1 with low salary CC with high salary
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1) CC enrollments go up during recessions and down during expansions. They’re down now, and some CCs have laid people off recently.
2) The larger concern for all of us is the 2009 baby bust, which will hit higher ed in 2027. You do not want to be untenured, or at a struggling LAC, or on the market then.
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So one option is higher pay and tenure protections.
The other is lesser pay, lesser stability, and association with a higher ranking institution.
People seem to prefer the latter. I can see why my admins had such an easy time getting adjuncts last time we needed course coverage.
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Something else not mentioned:
Based on your descriptions, the offers are for the usual 2 semester academic year. 65k you can have worry free summers off, or you can teach a couple of classes and make a bit more.
R1 you also have the opportunity for summer teaching, but in my experience every single institution will prioritize TT faculty for summer teaching requests and will pay TT more for summer teaching. So the difference is even greater.Your decision will come down to how much risk you're willing to take. Maybe you have several publications that can be out by the time the next market cycle gets going, and those will be enough to land you a permanent position. Or maybe your position gets cut and you moved and wasted a couple of years chasing something that never materialized. If the latter, are you ok with cutting your losses and moving on to non academic world? Because the people in the really sad situations in academia are the people who are lecturers 8 years in hoping that THIS is the year they will land that ideal job.
Note that if you are so close to publishing all this stuff, you can always go back on the market as a CC TT faculty, too. Sure, there will be a reputational penalty from trying to get out of a CC, but there will also be a reputational penalty from trying to get out of adjuncting.
And if you are not that close to publishing all this stuff, know that the difference in terms of teaching 3-3 and 4-4 for your productivity is not that great. Either way you will be teaching a lot and have few resources to do research. And at the CC at least it will likely be all sections of intro where you have one or two preps.
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PS - my TIAA CREF balance from my CC days is around $350k. I’m about 18 years from retirement and having built that up is welcome.
I’ve reconsidered my earlier post. Take the CC job. Publish as much as possible and make connections at local R1 and R2 schools to adjunct Graduate and summer classes.
Buy a house, take a 15 year mortgage and enjoy serving students who really need your support. Get them to transfer after taking the AA degree. It’s actually a real opportunity to make a difference in undergraduate education.
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OP: you shouldn't take the CC job if you think you'll resent it and become miserable, even though you don't have a lot of options right now, and even though the CC job is more secure.
Taking the R1 job is a calculated risk. You might get fired, you might not have your contract renewed, but if you know teaching at a CC is not for you then you should take the R1 lecturer gig and bust your add to find something else.
That something else doesn't have to be a TT R1 job. It can be a government, industry, think tank, advocacy, etc job. I know you've spent at least a year on the job market but don't fall prey to the sunk cost fallacy and don't ignore non-academic roles. They can be much better than a s**t CC job or a glorified TA role as a lecturer.
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^^^"in my experience every single institution will prioritize TT faculty for summer teaching requests"
I've been at three R1s and that's the opposite of what I've seen. Non TT are always prioritized for summer teaching where I've been, especially online courses. Not doubting what you're saying is true, but I don't think it's as universal as you think.
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55b7, are you saying that if a tenure track member and a lecturer both asked for a summer class, the dept chair would say no to the TT and give it to the lecturer? I've never seen that happen.
bbad,at my alma mater there was a lot of competition over who would teach the study abroad summer courses. Faculty gets put up in really nice accommodations in really nice cities and get paid a full course.
Not saying that it's common to see that happen. But it's another factor.
OP can easily transform that 65k into 75k or more by teaching one of the summer sessions and still have a nice break in the summer and a nice break in the winter. As a non-TT faculty at an R1, that is not guaranteed, on top of actively undercutting the very purpose of taking that position (which is to do more research to get a permanent job). -
I don't know what OP should do, but I went to a CC and then transferred to a flagship public. My sense is that the students weren't that different. Many of the older students at my CC were focused and respectful. There were some real idiots there, but there were some real idiots at the flagship public too.
If it was me I'd probably take the tenure track and living wage at the CC... But it depends on so much we don't know.
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It is difficult to do research at a CC. Access to library resources that you take for granted at a R1 are lacking at a CC. Many ICPSR datasets are off-limits to you as a non-member. Even getting journal articles will be a hassle. Most granting agencies and journal editor will not take you seriously when they see your affiliation.
Our idiot president gave us a travel budget--which in itself is unusual at a CC. But it had to be used for attending conferences. The idea that I would use it to visit a research site and collect data was mind-boggling to him, and he nixed it. On the plus side, we had no obligation to present a paper to get the trip funded. We just had to attend, and bring back the badge to prove that we attended.