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The report examines lower pay, limited job security, and reduced access to retirement savings and healthcare benefits, highlighting that only 37% of institutions offered health benefits to adjuncts. Using CUPA-HR survey data, it analyzes workforce composition, institutional policies, and pay differences by discipline, race/ethnicity, gender, and education level.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/adjunct-faculty-in-the-higher-education-workforce-by-brielle-johnson-and-melissa-fuesting-february-2026/584186/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/adjunct-faculty-in-the-higher-education-workforce-by-brielle-johnson-and-melissa-fuesting-february-2026/584186.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Kyle","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"How are adjunct faculty typically hired and paid?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Adjunct faculty are hired by institutions to teach specific courses and are paid on a course-by-course basis.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What are the main employment vulnerabilities highlighted for adjuncts?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Adjunct roles are typically paid less than regular appointments, often offer low job security, and commonly provide limited access to retirement savings and healthcare benefits.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What data sources does the report use to analyze adjunct faculty?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The report uses CUPA-HR’s 2024–25 Faculty in Higher Education Survey and the 2024–25 BEES survey, including institution-level policies and incumbent-level adjunct data.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},584186,1792162302,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},3985741905716,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","Adjunct Faculty in the Higher Education Workforce  \nBy Brielle Johnson and Melissa Fuesting  \nFebruary 2026  \nIntroduction  \nAdjunct faculty are hired by institutions to teach specific courses and are paid on a courseby-course basis. 1 Across U.S. colleges and universities, there are more than 650,000 adjunct faculty.2 In 2024-25, adjuncts accounted for approximately 40% of the higher education faculty workforce.3  \nDespite the sizeable presence of adjunct faculty across higher ed, adjunct positions are typically paid less than their counterparts in regular appointments and have low job security.4 The median pay per credit hour for adjuncts is $1,166, with the median total pay for an academic term being $4,998 .5 This low pay is especially notable considering the education level of adjuncts, as many colleges and universities require an advanced degree for these positions. In addition to low pay, adjuncts are seldom offered retirement savings plans by their college or university, 6 and they are typically ineligible to receive healthcare benefits from their institution.7 In 2024-25, only 37% of institutions offered health benefits to their adjunct faculty.8 Further, many adjuncts work with minimal assurance for ongoing employment beyond the current academic term.9 Due to the critical role played by adjunctsin post-secondary education as well as the noted vulnerabilities associated with these positions, it is important to better understand this part of the higher ed workforce.  \nThis report provides a deep dive on adjunct faculty, outlining the state of the adjunct workforce and identifying opportunities for increased support for this critical sector of higher ed employees. The findings from the current report contribute to a growing body of research on the conditions of adjunct faculty employment in higher education.  \n1 Some sources use the term“adjunct” interchangeably with “part-time” faculty. We use “adjunct”throughout this report for consistency.  \n2 U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2023) . Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) [Data set] .  \n3 CUPA-HR. (2025) . Higher Education Workforce Surveys, 2024-25.  \n4 Kuimelis, C. & Flannery, M. (2023, May 23). Life as a Contingent Faculty Member. National Education Association.  \n5 Pay per credit hour and number of credit hours taught were collected for each adjunct reported in the survey, and total pay was calculated for each adjunct by multiplying number of credit hours they taught by their pay per credit hour; CUPA-HR. (2025). 2024-25 Faculty in Higher Education Survey [Data set] .  \n6 Yakoboski, P. (2019, March). Adjunct Faculty: Personal Finances and Retirement Savings. TIAA Institute.  \n7 Flannery, M. (2023, November 29). Part-Time Faculty in Oregon Win Health Care Access. National Education Association.  \n8 CUPA-HR. (2025) . Benefits, Employee Experience, and Structure Survey, 2024-25 [Data set] .  \n9 Anthony, W., Levine Brown, P., Fynn, N., & Gadzekpo, P. (2020) . The Plight of Adjuncts in Higher Education. Practitioner to Practitioner.  \nThe Data  \nThis report uses data from CUPA-HR’s 2024-25 Faculty in Higher Education Survey and Benefits, Employee Engagement, and Structure (BEES) in Higher Education Survey. Prior to 2024- 25, institutions provided aggregate data on their adjunct workforce. In 2024-25, CUPA-HR started collecting adjunct faculty data at the incumbent level through the Faculty in Higher Education Survey, so pay, number of credit hours taught, education-level, and other demographics are now reported for each adjunct at an institution. This change provides deeper insights into adjunct faculty, including the ability to examine differences in pay per credit hour by academic discipline and pay equity by adjunct race/ethnicity and gender. Data were provided by 263 institutions on 43,279 adjuncts, making CUPA-HR’s 2024-25 Faculty in Higher Education Survey the largest source available of current adjunct pay by disci","cbCaih1HZpbNmyzg","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaih1HZpbNmyzg","pdf",632949,25,"English","# Introduction\n# The Data\n# The Analyses\n# Faculty Workforce Proportions\n## The Percentage of Faculty Who Are Adjuncts Has Remained Consistent for the Past Decade","[{\"question\":\"How are adjunct faculty typically hired and paid?\",\"answer\":\"Adjunct faculty are hired by institutions to teach specific courses and are paid on a course-by-course basis.\"},{\"question\":\"What are the main employment vulnerabilities highlighted for adjuncts?\",\"answer\":\"Adjunct roles are typically paid less than regular appointments, often offer low job security, and commonly provide limited access to retirement savings and healthcare benefits.\"},{\"question\":\"What data sources does the report use to analyze adjunct faculty?\",\"answer\":\"The report uses CUPA-HR’s 2024–25 Faculty in Higher Education Survey and the 2024–25 BEES survey, including institution-level policies and incumbent-level adjunct data.\"}]","Adjunct Faculty in the Higher Education Workforce - By Brielle Johnson and Melissa Fuesting - February 2026 | PDF",1792050147,63]