Diplomat1: Blah, blah, blah, blah...perhaps you will learn to be more compassionate for those that are out of work and looking for a job!! Obviously, U must be working in one of these "high paying" positions based upon how defensive U are in your posts. Hope U never find yourself in the unemployment line.

munchkin1,

That was one heck of conclusion you got from my post. Obviously just obtaining a master's degree or PHD does not guarantee success and no where did I say that ONLY people with Master's degrees or higher are successful. My post was aimed at you and all the other people that have the "woe is me" attitude. Instead of complaining about others making more then you, do something about it. Sorry, but the world doesn't owe you anything. Maybe you should reevaluate your skills, education, geographic location, etc. if you are not happy with your own pay. You may have a tough time accepting this because complaining about it takes no effort at all, but there really isn't one big secret everyone is keeping from you on how to make more money. You have to do the work to get yourself there.

And Madison bus drivers make how much??

munckin,

The BLS show that nationally about 3% of those with Masters degrees are unemployed. 15% of High school dropouts are unemployed. National average is about 8%. janesville demographics illustrate about 20-21% of adults have a 4 year college degree, ergo-less education correlates into more unemployment and more education = less unemployment. These are facts.

Greg - you are comparing apples to oranges in your blog.
"full-time instructors (means all full-time teachers) at Wisconsin technical colleges averaged more earnings than full-time professors (means ONLY professors) in the UW System.
The UW system has "full-time instructors" who are classified as graduate assistant, faculty assistant, instructor, adjunct professor, associate professor, FULL professors, and probably a few more classifications.
You should compare all instructors in the tech suystem to all instructors in the UW system.
That actual gap will be much greater that the one stated in your blog.
Of course, the tech instructors work a ton more hours that any UW instructor and have outstanding resumes outside of teaching.

Tech school teachers must also have documented work experience in the "real" world, direct experience in the field they teach. Most require at least three years recent experience so that they are in tune with technical innovations and developments.
Very few public school teachers, University instructors, assoc. profs, and profs have any experience other that being a student, flipping burgers, or being teacher.

Munchkin,

Teachers in the Janesville School District, with Masters Degrees generally earn over $70K, topping out at almost $74K. This isn't a secret, nor is the fact that your opportunity to be highly successful is greatly increased with a Masters Degree. All the more power to all who have the ability and desire to achieve these degrees.

Diplomat1: Having a masters degree does not guarantee nor qualify one as being successful as now you're saying that only people having masters degrees are successful!! There are many people with masters degrees who are out of work not because they want nor expected they would be. Also why is it that the teachers pay is so low in the public (Janesville) school system (less than half the pay) compared to teachers i.e. at the tech. system level as I am sure those teachers have masters degrees! I guess us highly qualified, highly educated workers scraping by to make a living at minimum wage are unsuccessful wannabes according to you.

When overage pay is not included TEch professors earn less than professors within the UW system. This is not a revelation. Nor is the fact that full time professors earn more than adjunct professors or associate professors. The holy grail is tenure-all college professors seek tenure. Guaranteed income for life, sabbaticals, a heavy load of 6-9 hours of class teaching time per semester-plus the institutional power that is associated with this.

for accurate salary information contact budget@uwsa.edu

nicely said diplomat. I would have expected the UW system Profs to be earning more though.

munchkin1,

Wah Wah! The secret to success really isn't that mystifying. Almost all of these professors (Tech and UW) have Master's degrees. Go get some a set of degrees in something that pays well if you want to earn money and quit crying about people that make more money then you.

All I can say is it must be nice both at the WTCS and the UW to make such salaries while other working class citizens are struggling and working a 40 hour workweek making minimum wage. At the technical college level: working 180 calendar days (often less than a 40 hour workweek), having summers off, spring and christmas breaks, and not working on holidays and weekends while making $85 plus thousand dollars a year not including overtime wages and state pensions and medical bennies, sounds like a "dream" job to me. Dont tell me how "rough" grading papers and attending meetings and paying in alittle for your retirement and health benefits is so much "harder" than the rest of us have it!! I can also guarantee that any overtime wages that are being paid are being included in their base salaries which inflates their Wisconsin retirement benefits allowing for more monies in retirement compensation (since common practice of the WRS takes a person's highest 3 years of earnings into acct) when calculating the formula for retirement benefits and what a person will be receiving in compensation when they retire) I am sure this helps to "pad" a nice cushion for retirement. Boo hoo!!

The trend I'm seeing is that Mr. Peck is retelling stories that are three days old with a very small helping of provocative language.
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Gregg.. We have all read this data and posted our comments days and days ago.. Nothin new over the wire.
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Why continue offering retreads? Is that what the editors do/want these days?
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Not very fresh or illuminating.

Rawhide, Even with overages the instructors do not make 2x the average teacher in the district. Greg Peck, please make this easy and just compare the base salaries of the UW professors and the technical college instructors. UW professors easily get paid more. The overages are basically an additional job. They work many more hours in addition to their base salaries to gain the extra money.

Why do I get the feeling we are not getting the whole story on the wage comparision?

I tend to agree with nicksmom - considering the cost of education to become a professor, I'm amazed they don't make more. Although, that said, I attended UW and many of those professors get a lot of help from teaching assistants. I'm not sure if tech schools have those kinds of positions. Obviously there is a huge difference in class size for the intro courses, and many professors teach smaller classes for those majoring in the field without the assistance of TAs. I had professors I never met or had conversations with. My husband did not have that experience at tech school. Given how entirely difference the two systems are, I'm not sure the comparison is apples to apples.

Anyone who goes into teaching for the money, shouldn't.

I have a PhD and went to a division 1 research university in a top tier graduate department. I have friends that decided to become academics while I chose to enter the private sector. Some of my friends are the most talented researchers in our field in the world. I was lucky to be surrounded by such an outstanding group. But when they went to apply in academic positions they were surprised to find out that the average pay was approximately $45K with benefits. If you do a national search of available tenure track positions this would be what you are finding. Look at professors who have been around awhile, not many are making $86K. My old advisor from UW-Whitewater is the most talented teacher I have ever known and she is making less than $86K by far. She's been at UWW since 1992. Not to add fuel to the fire but I assure you the difference in pay is more stark than people know.

It doesn't necessarily surprise me that the average pay at the techs -- which probably includes a lot of e.g. engineering or medical faculty -- exceeds that of the UW system overall, which is chock full of humanities faculty (more plentiful, cheaper, etc.). Campus size may also account for differences in overtime opportunities across the general faculty. So these two facts by themselves aren't per se shocking. I'd like to see the full breakdown and any analysis of the report.

You're kidding. That's all they make? Would have never guessed that. Seems very low to me considering the cost of a college education & the education it takes to become a professor.

The fact that these professors, working with adults, are getting paid 2-3x the average grade school thru high school teacher is appalling. And it's all because of 100% government backed loans and a culture of "you have to get a college degree to be anything in the world". Universities and colleges continue to up tuition year after year and continue to rake in $. What a racket!

The fact that these professors, working with adults, are getting paid 2-2x the average grade school thru high school teacher is appalling. And it's all because of 100% government backed loans and a culture of "you have to get a college degree to be anything in the world". Universities and colleges continue to up tuition year after year and continue to rake in $. What a racket!

yes it probably saves money because benefits are not doubled up but are these people at their best when bsically working two fulltime jobs?