In the midst of the state’s budget crisis, college institutions are not the only ones experiencing scarcity. With job cuts, low enrollment numbers and lack of scholarships, adjunct faculty members are just as frustrated as students and other professors.
“It’s very unfortunate that they are cutting funds for education,” professor Traci Minnick said. “We need to make education a priority.”
Minnick is an adjunct sociology professor who is currently teaching nine classes at four institutions. They are Moraine Valley, Harper, Triton and Oakton colleges. She has been an adjunct all of her teaching career and usually teaches two classes in one day. She has been at Moraine Valley since 2007, and she considers that to be her full-time “real gig” even though she travels around frequently.
“It’s actually really cool. I don’t have that many other friends that love their job as much as I love my job, and that’s why we put in so many hours traveling around the place,” Minnick said. “It’s just so much fun.”
However, if the weather isn’t perfect, she said it’s an unpleasant feeling trying to get to her next institution.
“When I get done here (at Moraine Valley in Palos Hills) I only have one hour to get up to my next class and that’s every Monday and Wednesday,” Minnick said. “So if there’s like one snowflake or a car accident, I’m in a bad place — like I’m hauling to get up there.”
Although she loves her job, Minnick also expressed hardships she and other adjuncts are experiencing with the budget crisis.
“As far as cutting adjuncts, it’s really unfortunate. It happens to all of us every semester,” Minnick said. “If there’s low enrollment, a full-time instructor gets to take a class and then an adjunct is left without a class. That’s like our livelihood.”
Adjuncts depend on their two or three classes a semester, Minnick said. She also said it stinks when they get the boot and their class is given to full-time faculty. For many adjuncts, it’s a guessing game to figure out how many classes they will have.
“I’m supposed to have four classes this summer,” Minnick said. “I might only have two. I might have to get a different job. It’s a waiting game.”
That different job she alluded to is a seasonal job such as at Home Depot, Starbucks or Hobby Lobby. When a class gets canceled, there is a sense of urgency all adjuncts have to find a way to pay their bills, she said.
“We rely only on this like 85 percent even if this is your full-time job. A lot of the different institutions I teach at have different policies like that,” Minnick said. “If there is a class cancellation they try to let it ride out as long as possible, because if things like enrollment are down, they will give you a week before school starts. So the week before you’re supposed to be working, you don’t know if you have a job.”
Despite the uncertainty, Minnick doesn’t regret her decision to teach. She said it comes with the job and adjuncts are fully aware of what they are getting into. Once you become an adjunct, you get stuck, she said.
“It’s stinks, but it’s a part of life if you want to live this lifestyle. As far as teaching at the adjunct position, I really enjoy it,” Minnick said. “So I’m going to bust and do whatever I have to do and get a crummy job in the summer if I have to, because I really — really like what I’m doing.”
Another aspect of the adjunct lifestyle is adjusting to the academic schedules of different institutions. Midterms, Christmas beaks and spring breaks have always been challenging and stressful, she said.
“That’s the worst part of it. Everyone asks are you going somewhere for spring break? I’m like — no, I have four different spring breaks,” Minnick said. “So some of them coincide but that’s where it gets a little stressful. It’s just a matter of time management.”
Minnick’s time management skills have developed over time and she knows what college she should be at during the week. And she knows all of her students’ names in each of her nine courses, she said. As Minnick looks back at her journey, which started as an elementary education major in college, a sabbatical from teaching English in China, she is truly happy and satisfied with being an adjunct.
“It’s a lot of fun. I enjoy it, it’s rewarding,” Minnick said. “I like to see my kids excited about sociology and education. I feel like I’m doing a good job.”