College Professor Salary??

[grassroots]

with most schools back in session, i was wondering how much does a college professor make a year?

i know most of them write books and ALL of their student have to buy them!!

[dragons08]

100k would be my guess

[jtk1519]

The highest paying schools on average, in Texas...

1. Rice - $127,000
2. SMU - $115,800
3. UT-Austin - $115,700
4. UT-Dallas - $109,700
5. U. of Houston (main campus) - $106,500

Nation's top paying...

1. Rockefeller University - $172,800
2. Harvard - $168,700
3. Princeton - $156,800
4. Stanford - $156,200
5. U. of Chicago - $155,100

Pay is for professors and does not represent the pay for associate or assistant professors.

[Bobcat81]

I was about to say it varies,.. but JTK did a nice job displaying that ;)

[DrEdward]

No dispute about the averages shown above, but the pay is critically dependent upon the area of specialization. That is, a full professor of English is going to typically be paid far less than a full professor in the College of Business or in the College of Engineering. By the way, don't overestimate the amount of money earned by professors requiring students to purcahse the text books they write. Unless that text catches on big time, it is not that profitable directly. In the world of acdemia, however, a published text is worth some real bonus points on the resume when it is time to move on or for tenure review.

[Firebird]

Also keep in mind that the vast majority of professors do not work at big name institutions like Harvard, UT, Michigan, et al. A lot of the full professors at those schools are "rock stars" in their fields, and schools are prepared to throw the big bucks around to lure them to their school. Dr. Edwards is also correct in pointing out that some specializations are more profitable than others.

The pay is far, far less at most institutions. At smaller, private teaching universities (as opposed to research universities) it really isn't as much as you might think, around the 40-50K range. Benefits are usually good though.

Almost no one goes into academia to get rich. A few will become rich, but most professors are doing what they do because out of love.

[1337boy]

don't forget about the assistant professors and associate profs. they don't make as much as a full prof.

[jtk1519]

Firebird is right that pay is less at smaller or non-research universities be they public or private. A few example of average base pay...

Abilene Christian - $68,000
Stephen F. Austin - $66,400
Incarnate Word - $62,600
North Texas - $84,600
Tarleton State - $71,000

It appears as though the lowest paying university is Howard Payne who pays around $47,400.

BTW, it is my understanding that all those salary figures are base pay as issued by the university. The individual colleges can add to that salary themselves. For example, a professor at UT-Austin's Business school will make the same base pay as a professor at that same institutions school of education, but the business school professor is likely to make more because the business college will add to his base pay.