Adjunct faculty teach at multiple campuses to make full-time income

Labeled “freeway flyers,” adjunct faculty commute between multiple colleges to make ends meet.
The term adjunct refers to a faculty member who is hired with a part-time contract instead of a full-time contract.
The practice of hiring adjunct faculty over full-time faculty has become a popular trend with adjuncts making up 76.4 percent of U.S. faculty among all types of institutions, according to a report by the American Association of University Professors.
This practice has become common as colleges across the nation seek ways to decrease expenses.
Adjuncts can be hired for about 80 percent less than full time faculty, and most institutions across the nation do not offer benefits for part-time faculty, according to the research article “Does Cheaper Mean Better?”
Many adjuncts take these part-time positions in hopes of eventually being hired into a full-time position.
When a full-time position becomes available there is a lot of competition.
“You have to apply for the full-time position,” said Patricia Alvarez, English professor. “You have people applying that are adjuncts on campus, plus you are competing with other people who don’t live here.”
Alvarez is an adjunct professor who teaches here at San Jose City College as well as two other community colleges in the area.
Many adjunct faculty teach at multiple schools to get the hours necessary to achieve an income similar to that of a full-time faculty member.
Without a full-time contract, adjunct teachers work semester to semester not knowing whether their contract will be renewed.
There are about 480 to 500 adjunct faculty members in the San Jose-Evergreen District, said Barbara Hanfling, executive director of the San Jose and Evergreen Federation of Teachers.
Living without the benefits, the pay and the ability to be tenured like their full-time counterpart, many adjuncts have no choice but to split their time between multiple campuses.
“Probably 80 percent of the students don’t know