Leveraging Contingent Faculty at Two-Year Colleges in Florida: A Cost-Benefit Analysis

• In Event: Issues in PK–16 Education Funding

Abstract

Since the financial crises, America’s public two-year colleges have experienced financial strain. Juxtaposed against the backdrop of increasing student loan debt and the recession’s congruent impact on the public, these same institutions have been the target of legislative urgency in the form of tuition capping and political pressure to keep tuition rates flat. With state allocations and tuition payments under pressure, institutional leadership has turned to cost-side solutions for budget reconciliation. Such solutions tend to focus on the reduction of instructional costs. This paper investigates how the reduction in state funding levels effected the composition of public two-year college faculties in the state of Florida, with implications for other states to consider in terms of leveraging contingent faculty.

Authors

• Joe Huston, Seminole State College of Florida

• Lou L. Sabina, Stetson University