Full-time faculty at Alamo Colleges District are decrying a compensation adjustment that could cut their summer teaching pay by 30%. 

The change goes into effect this summer, and faculty members said this would result in cuts ranging from $3,000 to $4,000 for the summer.

“The 25-26 academic year has already been a challenging one for us. Federal and state policies have placed constricting policies on students and faculty, affecting them not only academically, but financially and culturally. It is within this broader context that we must consider the recent change to faculty compensation,” said Carlos Acosta during the public comment section of a regular board meeting. 

In previous years, full-time faculty who chose to teach additional courses in the summer would be paid at 130% of their regular salary for up to 15 credit hours taught, college officials confirmed.

Staring this summer, full-time faculty will be paid at 100% of their rate, with some additional pay for approved non-instructional work, said Alamo Colleges spokesman Mario Muñiz.

“Faculty were notified this year that compensation would align at 100% of the rate, with additional pay provided for any assigned non-instructional work,” Muñiz said. “The summer schedules have not yet been finalized, and we do not have a count of how many faculty who have taught in previous years will choose to teach this summer.”

This cut would bring down the full-time faculty summer pay rate to that of an adjunct faculty member. There are no expected changes to the pay rates for adjunct faculty members this summer.

“For many of us this is not just supplemental income, it is household money that we need for our children and in many cases, extended family members,” Acosta said. 

Tony Villanueva, a full-time faculty member and vice president of the Alamo Colleges chapter of the American Association of University Professors, also spoke during the comments. The association conducted a faculty survey in which at least 35% of respondents reported seeking outside summer employment to supplement the expected loss, he said. 

Villanueva said this cut means yet another it to their overall compensation and cited the latest Texas Community Colleges Teacher Association salary rankings in which Alamo Colleges District ranked No. 20 out of the 38 colleges ranked — with an average salary of $69,462 for full-time faculty and 952 full-time faculty members.

It is not yet clear what non-instructional work will be approved for additional pay, or what that pay rate will be. But faculty members who spoke during the meeting deemed this unsustainable for faculty who normally volunteer for this added work. 

“When summer teaching compensation is reduced, yet the year-round expectations remain the same and even increase, the institution begins to rely on goodwill instead of institutional support,” Villanueva told the board during his comments. “And goodwill, no matter how strong, is not sustainable. It’s not a sustainable model for delivering consistent high quality. Goodwill cannot be infinitely scaled.”

The San Antonio Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.