UNF and State University System of Florida Information
The State of Florida is dead last in salary amounts for instructors and professors within the 50 states according to the UFF. UNF ranks 6th out of 11 Florida universities and salaries at UNF are below the median for pay in the Associate, Assistant and Instructors link. See the data provided by the Chronicle of Higher Education's 2012 Faculty Salary Survey. The Cupahr.org has additional salary information. Based on 2010 data, the salary levels of faculty within COAS and the Department of Chemistry are also well below average.



In addition to the original low starting salary, the total compensation was further reduced with a reduction in contributions to retirement, which was 10.43% from 2006-2010, then reduced to 7.42% with a forced 3% contribution from the faculty member's salary, which is an effective 3% salary reduction. The Florida Senate's HB 5005 retirement bill of 2012 further reduces the state contribution to retirement from 7.42% to 5.14% effective July 1, 2012. Assuming no futher changes, the lost retirement contributions in my case will amount to a 47% reduction in total retirement contributions by the state over the course of my career. Even with yearly COLA salary changes, which are very unlikely to happen in the state of Florida, the lack of COLA pay changes and reduced and forced retirement contributions will result at least an a 11% loss of income during the course of my career. Associate professors were found have lower job satisfaction levels than both assistant and full professors do. Read more: http://www.insidehighered.207elmp02.blackmesh.com/news/2012/06/04/associate-professors-less-satisfied-those-other-ranks-survey-finds#ixzz2GG2ymdEb Inside Higher Ed

The shrinking loss of state support has already caused more than 50 faculty to leave FSU as reported by the Tampa Bay Times in the article High cost of being cheap: faculty exodus" or in the Tampa Bay Times article FSU faculty a 'farm team' for out-of-state schools. The state university system's budget has been cut by a total of about 50 percent in the past five years, despite increased enrollment each year. A Florida Blue Ribbon Task Force on State Higher Education Reform

Public Universities In Peril in American Chemical Society Chemical and Engineering News 90(27) pp. 28-30, July 2, 2012.

Prisons Boom While College Suffer article at the Florida Times Union. In the article the state share in 1985-86 was $4581 and tuition was $883. Using the inflation calculator from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 2012 adjusted amounts from the state and tuition would be $9,784 and $1,886, respectively. However, the 2012 state share is $4938, less than 50% of the inflation adjusted 1985 amount. Tuition is $4,960, significantly more (x2.6) than the inflation adjusted $1,886. The combined inflation adjusted state and tuition amount from 1985 is $11,670 in 2012 dollars. Relative total tuition costs have decreased to $4,938 + $4,960 = $9,898 in 2011-12 vs. $11,670 adjusted from 1985.


My typical work week as a faculty member is 50-60 hours, with low wages and no retirement earnings as an undergraduate student (4 years), graduate student (4 years), and postdoc (3.5 years) of training for the position. One can search the Jacksonville-area government employee salaries from the Florida Times Union for faculty salaries. Despite the modern attacks on faculty, state workers, and people represented by unions, it's noteworthy that a faculty member like me could increase my salary by 10% as a Department Manager, increase it by 37% for an Assistant Store Manager, or more than double my salary as a store manager at a Publix grocery store and that is not counting other benefits and bonuses.

Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it. - Albert Einstein