Perhaps no story about what’s wrong with American higher education is more poignant than that of Sam Fanning of Eastern Michigan University.
After receiving his bachelor diploma from the college in December, he went to work as a janitor at his alma mater. The bottom line is this: He owes $35,000 in student loans and his payments are $500 per month. His new salary is $13.01 per hour.
In this interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education he describes his work on the midnight shift cleaning feces from toilet bowls and dealing with diaper leaks on college carpets.
Despite being a poster boy for the failure of the promise of higher education, Fanning is far from bitter about it.
“I don’t feel incompetent. I just feel like my potential isn’t being used,” he said.
I work as a custodian and had an epiphany when I went back to college a few years ago. I learned that at $15 per hour I was earning more money than most of my professors (who were adjuncts) and that I had health insurance, a matching contribution to a 401(k), and a pension! (I work for a public school district.)
It was a mind-blowing realization that as a toilet-cleaner, lawn-mower and all-around-trouble-shooting-jack-of-all-trades, I was financially in much better shape than most of my professors who were ostensibly better educated … but who were paying a quarter of their take-home pay to student loans.
There is no excuse for the way colleges abuse adjuncts. THey often teach the exact same courses as regular professors but are paid a tiny fraction of the salary. They are treated like slaves with no rights, no benefits, no contracts and no respect. There are some efforts to unionize them == and the need it. With the millions of dollars floating around colleges and universities there is no excuse for this and it is clearly a form of abuse.
Education beyond the secondary level especially education at the college or university level.
I chose to go to graduate school because I was inspired within my area of expertise. I am an illustrator of theoretical & sub-atomic physics. I truly believed that once I had all of the degrees behind my name–that I could make an honorable contribution to this area of the sciences. What my professors did not tell me was the true reality of the situation. Attaining a position at a tier one research institution can be a life long pursuit. And, unless that’s where you land…anything below it (tier 2, 3, 4 colleges) have no interest in research. They focus on teaching and retention. In a nutshell–all of my dreams for WHY I wanted to become a professor were shattered once I WAS one. No one is interested in using my skills or brain on the levels that I was challenged to think/ design/ create. Instead, I’m locked in a room all day with 18-22 year olds who want to be passed through the system. I haven’t had any time to do my own personal research for 4 years…Since I’m not at a tier one institution–no one cares. I am currently searching other job possibilities. I do not feel that this is why I spent $60,000 on graduate school…to become a professor who teaches 10-12 courses a year. I’m spread so thin it’s ridiculous. I have no enjoyment from my job. Does anyone else feel this way too?
Craig (can I call you Craig?), have you always been this bitter, vindictive and willing to lash out at colleges? The problems aren’t as simplistic as you make them out to be. Do everyone a favour and stick to your day job.
Shelly, You can downplay the problems that I have noted about higher education, but most people who hear about how little college students learn and how much they pay for it think they are problems in need of some urgent repairs. Look around and you will find these functionally illiterate graduates moved back in with their parents paying off their thousands of dollars in loans and trying to figure out what went wrong.
Great site here. Many blogs like this cover subjects that can’t be found in print. I don’t know how we got by 12 years ago with just newspapers and magazines.