Faculty Compensation and the Crisis in Recruiting and Retaining
Faculty of High Quality at Sonoma State University
On May 6, 2005, the Academic Senate CSU passed the resolution AS-2702-05/FA
endorsing the report Faculty Compensation and the Crisis in Recruiting and Retaining
Faculty of High Quality pertaining to the CSU and to the effect of compensation in
selected regions of California. Its purpose was to call upon the Chancellor and the Board
of Trustees to make faculty compensation one of the most important issues in budgeting
and to make clear in all annual budget proposals the strong and unwavering support of the
Trustees for providing faculty compensation increases at the full parity figure
recommended by the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC); to address
with the California Faculty Association the issue of salary compression and to announce
the senate’s strong support for the current faculty pension system and for the Faculty Early
Retirement Program (FERP). The following analysis localizes the effect of current faculty
compensation on Sonoma State University.
Gross average salary CSU 2004-05
Assistant Professor
$ 54,949
Associate Professor
$ 67,0931
Single family housing costs in Sonoma County, March 2005 and 2004
Median price of single family homes March 2005
Sonoma County
$ 500,000
Cloverdale
$ 499,000
Cotati
$ 520,000
Petaluma
$ 550,000
Rohnert Park
$ 421,000
Santa Rosa
$ 480,000
Sebastopol
$ 520,000
March 2004
$ 415,000
$ 359,000
$ 430,000
$ 448,000
$ 304,000
$ 415,000
$ 497,000
Difference
20.48%
39.00%
20.93%
22.63%
38.65%
15.66%
24.14%2
The purchase of a median priced home in March in Sonoma County--$500,000--required a
qualifying income of $116,557.3 As a result, for the assistant professor earning CSU’s
California Postsecondary Education Commission, Faculty Salaries at California’s Public Universities,
2005-06, http://www.cpec.ca.gov/completereports/2005reports/05-04.pdf The average salary of a full
professor salary is there given at $83,451. In April 2004 CPEC reported that the average salary of an
assistant professor in 2003-04 was $54,572; for an associate professor it was $67,380, for a full professor,
$83,434. Between 2003-04 and 2004-05 CSU salaries increased just one percent at all three levels.
1
2
California Home Sale Activity by City: Home Sales by City. Home Sales Recorded in March 2005,
DataQuick News, March 2005, http://wwwdqnews.com/ZIPCAR.shtm DataQuick figures include prices for
condominiums as well as new and resale single family homes.
3
The figure is calculated from the California Association of Realtors (CAR) index cited in the Silicon
Valley San Jose Business Journal, May 5, 2005,
http://www.sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2005/05/02/daily38.html?jst+cn_cn_lk_71k
The CAR index is a quarterly analysis of the difference between the median household income and the
qualifying income needed to purchase a median priced single family home for the state and for select regions
average salary to purchase the median-priced home, the gap was $61,559. For the
associate professor, the gap was $40,464.
April figures for new and resale homes and condominiums in Sonoma County, published
by DataQuick on May 16, 2005,4 establish the median price as $534,000, up 9.3 percent
from the March median price of $500,000. Sonoma County’s April 2004 median price
was $415,000. The increase from April 2004 to April 2005 was 28.7 percent.
Rental housing costs in Sonoma County, May 2005
Santa Rosa offers a good example of the costs of apartment living relative to CSU salaries.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) designates Fair Market Rents
(FMRs) in Santa Rosa at an income limit of $52,200 for a family of three to be eligible for
HUD’s assisted housing program.5 The FMRs index is based on HUD estimates of
median family income with adjustments for family size. HUD defines low-income
families as those whose incomes do not exceed 80 percent of the median family income
for the area (in Sonoma County the median income is $74,000). As a result, the HUD
definition of low income in Santa Rosa for a family of three is calculated as $59,200. The
income average of $54,949 for a CSU assistant professor thus falls within HUD’s Low
Income designation for Santa Rosa. The designation is similar for other localities listed
above.
Consequences of compensation and housing costs for Sonoma State University
Like faculty on other campuses in the CSU, many Sonoma State University (SSU) faculty
members are approaching retirement age. In the CSU faculty members are eligible to
within the state. The index assumes that a buyer has a 20 percent down payment and a monthly payment for
the principal, interest, taxes and insurance that is no more than 30 percent of a household’s income. The
qualifying income given on May 5, 2005, assumes an average effective mortgage interest rate of 5.81
percent.
4
http://www.dqnews.com/RRBay0505.shtm The April median price is based on the sale of 711 homes in
the county. Resale prices are rising even higher. Michael Coit wrote in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat on
May 17, 2005, Homes in County nearing $600,000: April’s median price rose at fastest pace in 4 years:
“The median resale price for a Sonoma County house hit $595,000 in April, up more than 20 percent from a
year ago, according to a Press Democrat monthly report compiled by Coldwell Banker. March’s median
[resale] price was $575,000 . . . Just 10 months ago, home values surpassed $500,000 and are now poised to
go beyond $600,000 . . . More than 50 offers were made for a Rohnert Park home that was priced at
$415,000 and sold for $494,000.”
5
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, FY Income Limits,
http://www.huduser.org/Datasets/il/il05/ca_fy2005pdf. HUD is required by law to set income limits that
determine the eligibility of applicants for HUD’s assisted housing programs. Its limits are calculated for
metropolitan areas and non-metropolitan counties in the United States and its Territories using the Fair
Market Rent (FMR) area definitions used in the HUD section 8 program. For full definitions see
http://www.huduser.org/datasets/il/il05/BRIEFING-MATERIALS.pdf HUD’s metropolitan data for Santa
Rosa are considered typical for Sonoma County FMRs.
2
retire if they have reached the age of 50 with at least 5 years of service.6 In 2005 in the
CSU, 55% of full-time faculty are over this age.7 At SSU, 51% of the full-time faculty are
aged 50 or more.8 To replace them successfully, housing costs constitute a severe
disincentive for potential colleagues to accept a position.
The decision to develop SSU’s character as a mid-sized comprehensive university rather
than as a small liberal arts and sciences institution increases the likelihood of an
approaching “train wreck.” Under the 6-year compact with the Governor, the CSU agreed
to grow by 2.5% a year. SSU’s growth target over the compact period has been designated
as 5.0% a year. To accommodate this rapid increase, more faculty than those indicated by
the replacement numbers must be hired--reasonably at the assistant professor, or at most
the associate professor level. Although hiring at the associate professor level would
address housing costs somewhat more adequately, the practice would increase the already
significant salary compaction experienced by senior faculty on this campus and in the
CSU as a whole.
Housing costs are here related to the need to hire faculty sufficient to provide authentic
access to the classes required for rapidly growing student enrollments to achieve timely
degrees. Neither the faculty nor the students they serve, however, can achieve success
without the adequate support of staff. The difficulties addressed above in relation to
faculty replacement needs and the consequences of growth are also urgent to the need for
adequate staff, although staff members are more likely to be acquired locally, already
having housing in the region. Tenure track faculty members, on the other hand, are hired
through national searches, where the cost of living, and particularly the cost of housing,
will be compared by the candidate to salaries and the costs of living in other parts of the
country.
SSU is moving to address this issue with its Faculty/Staff housing project, at present on
the verge of execution, the last test for the endangered tiger salamander now completed.
The ultimate cost to occupants of this subsidized housing is yet to be fully determined.
Compiled by Susan McKillop
Statewide Academic Senator
May 19, 2005
6
Demographic data have been gathered by the Faculty Flow Task Force comprising members of the CSU
Academic Senate, the California Faculty Association, representatives of the campus provosts/academic vicepresidents and the CSU administration as well as two consultants, one each drawn from the CSU
administration and the faculty. See
http://www.calstate.edu/AcSen/Records/Reports/FacultyFlowCMTReport.pdf
7
CSU Facts 2005, http://www.calstate.edu/PA/2005Facts/demographics.shtml
8
Information provided by Bill Houghton, Director of Academic Personnel, SSU Faculty Affairs. Of 234
full-time faculty members, 120 are over the age of 50.
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4