Hundreds of thousands of part-time college faculty — many with doctorates or multiple masters degrees — earn near-poverty wages for teaching, forcing them to rely on public assistance programs, NBC News reported. One in four families of part-time professors rely on at least one public assistance program, like food stamps or the Earned Income Tax Credit, according to research from the Labor Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Research also suggests that the teaching quality suffers as more classroom work shifts to adjunct professors. "I have less time to prepare for classes, and can't be as present for my students," said Alyssa Colton, who teaches an English course as an adjunct at College of St. Rose in New York. "This isn't good for anyone."
