Cost or Contingency

Adjunct faculty have become the new majority faculty on campuses across the country. There are two theories why adjunct faculty are so relied upon: cost or contingency. Some institutions may employ adjunct faculty for cost-savings reasons. In contrast, other institutions may depend on the contingent, temporary nature of the employment contracts to quickly hire (and fire) faculty due to variations in enrollment and course offerings.This study tests the cost theory with a comparative interrupted time series analysis centered on the effective date of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Effective in January 2014, the ACA requires all large employers to make health insurance available to their employees who work at least 30 hours a week or more. Using publicly available personnel data for public universities and community colleges in Florida, analyses were done across three dependent variables – full-time headcount, the proportion of full-time faculty, and mean compensation – across seven years. Of nine analyses, only one analysis found significant statistical effects from the ACA's impact on the employment of adjunct faculty. This finding was surprising, particularly for the lack of statistically significant results at community colleges which rely more on adjunct faculty for instruction to a substantial extent, while also being more sensitive to cost increases due to their non-traditional student bodies.