Starting salaries for profs based on demand for majors, competition

April 7, 2008 —

by Sara Lowthian

The above graph shows the base salaries for professors in various disciplines. Demand for the major, current population with a degree in said field, and private versus public school competition has an influence on pay.

Full-time professors in the College of Business and Management have the highest starting salaries and on average make more money than professors in other disciplines, according to University data.

Economics and accounting professors average a base salary of $88,000 and $85,000 respectively. Professors in science, engineering and technology average slightly lower base salaries at around $80,000. Economics professors are in general the highest paid at SVSU.

Professors in the business and technological disciplines tend to make the most because of higher demand for such professors, and because SVSU must compete with lucrative private sector employers for those same individuals.

At the lower end of the pay scale are liberal arts professors. Professors in such disciplines as psychology, history, and sociology often have fewer employment options in the private sector - and the existing options often don't pay as well as universities - so the competition for these individuals is generally between public schools. In addition, there is in general a much larger pool of people with advanced degrees in the humanities, making the job market more competitive.

The average starting salary for a full-time liberal arts professor at SVSU is $57,300, almost $30,000 less than the average starting salary for a professor in the business disciplines.

SVSU doesn't base its starting salaries entirely on supply and demand. Donald Bachand, the head of Academic Affairs, said SVSU holds its faculty (and potential faculty) to high standards.

"Most of the professors hired in have a Ph.D because we want the most qualified people teaching our students," Bachand said.

The Faculty Assocation - the labor union for SVSU's professors - plays a role in determining the base salary for new professors, and the minimum salary is raised three to four percent every year. From July 2007 to July of this year, the minimum salary for a full-time professor with a Ph.D is $54,448.40, as negotiated by the union.

The average salary for professors in departments for this study is $71,200, about $16,000 more than the minimum base salary.

College students also help determine the base salary for professors simply by choosing majors. Majors in high demand often lead to increased base salaries for full-time professors in those disciplines. At SVSU, this might include full-time professors in the nursing and health sciences. Majors in low demand might lead to decreases in the starting salaries of full-time professors.

But one thing is constant: it pays to be a professor.