To: Boston Consortium for Higher Education
The Affordable Care Act: It's For Adjuncts, Too.
One of the biggest obstacles adjunct faculty face is figuring out how get access to affordable healthcare.
As millions across the country are gaining access to healthcare with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), many part-time faculty are finding that the universities and colleges where they work are adopting measures that prevent part-time faculty from gaining access to affordable benefits.
Stand with me in calling on universities and colleges to work to ensure, not prevent, access to ACA coverage for adjunct faculty.
As millions across the country are gaining access to healthcare with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), many part-time faculty are finding that the universities and colleges where they work are adopting measures that prevent part-time faculty from gaining access to affordable benefits.
Stand with me in calling on universities and colleges to work to ensure, not prevent, access to ACA coverage for adjunct faculty.
Why is this important?
Adjunct professors face a lot of pressures-- nationally we earn just $2700 per course. That’s $2700 to develop curriculum, teach, grade papers and tests, provide detailed student feedback, have office hours, and write student recommendations. We have no job security semester-to-semester, and few of us have access to affordable benefits, even though we now teach more than 50% of college courses nationwide.
One of the biggest obstacles adjunct faculty face is figuring out how to get access to affordable healthcare.
As millions across the country are gaining access to healthcare with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (also known as ObamaCare), many part-time faculty are finding that the universities and colleges where they work are adopting measures that prevent part-time faculty from gaining access to affordable benefits.
In fact, part-time faculty are seeing their course loads and hours cut as universities seek to avoid mandates requiring them to provide insurance to their employees who work 30 hours a week. With this trend, our contingency and lack of stability deepens. Many of us must teach courses at several campuses in order to earn the same salary, but still without access to affordable healthcare.
I spent much of my career piecing together adult basic education teaching work and adjunct and/or contracted faculty work in English Departments within both public and private higher education institutions, and I know access to affordable healthcare is an issue of great importance for contingent faculty. Stand with me in calling on colleges and universities to work with adjunct faculty to ensure everyone has access to affordable healthcare.
The petition will be delivered to the Boston Consortium for Higher Education, which works to develop quality improvements at 11 universities and college in Boston.
Deborah Schwartz, Asssistant Director of the Adult LIteracy Resource Institute/Greater Boston SABES Center at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
One of the biggest obstacles adjunct faculty face is figuring out how to get access to affordable healthcare.
As millions across the country are gaining access to healthcare with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (also known as ObamaCare), many part-time faculty are finding that the universities and colleges where they work are adopting measures that prevent part-time faculty from gaining access to affordable benefits.
In fact, part-time faculty are seeing their course loads and hours cut as universities seek to avoid mandates requiring them to provide insurance to their employees who work 30 hours a week. With this trend, our contingency and lack of stability deepens. Many of us must teach courses at several campuses in order to earn the same salary, but still without access to affordable healthcare.
I spent much of my career piecing together adult basic education teaching work and adjunct and/or contracted faculty work in English Departments within both public and private higher education institutions, and I know access to affordable healthcare is an issue of great importance for contingent faculty. Stand with me in calling on colleges and universities to work with adjunct faculty to ensure everyone has access to affordable healthcare.
The petition will be delivered to the Boston Consortium for Higher Education, which works to develop quality improvements at 11 universities and college in Boston.
Deborah Schwartz, Asssistant Director of the Adult LIteracy Resource Institute/Greater Boston SABES Center at the University of Massachusetts Boston.