Editorial: US colleges are overusing — and underpaying — adjunct professors

Undergraduates attending any of the California State University schools probably figure they’re being taught by well-paid, longtime professors. Sometimes they are. But more often, their teachers are low-paid “contingent faculty”— adjunct professors who work under contract, without a permanent job or the possibility of tenure.

Many CSU adjuncts have a PhD, but still make less working full time — about $64,000 a year — than the average California public and with fewer benefits and little job security.