Once the ACA came on board, the number of allowable "Contact Hours" were reduced to no more than 9. In some cases, that means only one class per semester. They do not pay by credit hour, but by contact hour which are listed as more and hence, reduce compensation or the ability to pick up more classes. Because of this, often if an adjunct wants to teach the single class (Such as is available in Math or Science classes where the credit hours are 4 but the contact hours are 5), we have to decide if we want to work full-time somewhere else or 2 part time jobs. I left because taking a full time job would have interfered with the one class I would have gotten from the college.
Students are often rude and have the feeling of entitlement. I had numerous students who had, quite obviously, been passed in classes that they would fail elsewhere argue that I had to give them an A. My department head rarely actually backed me up which was not helpful when a student is failing but filing complaints because they felt the work was too hard. Despite my holding office hours and being available without compensation to help them at any time. The students did not come to those times for assistance before complaining.
Adjuncts are overworked and grossly underpaid. Full time positions are rarely offered to adjuncts, instead they often go to outside applicants.
If one teaches an online course, the faculty member's hands are basically tied and the students do not understand that we have little to no say in the course content. The same goes for remedial courses. These are designed by someone at a higher level. Instructors have no say in what is taught. In essence, we're treated like high school teachers following a state curriculum.
Many of the management were more business men over educators.
