WINSTON-SALEM – The UNC School of the Arts wins high praise – not just as an arts school, but as a degree-granting university.
Yet salaries for its teachers fall far short of those at the schools with which it competes.
USA Today College recently ranked the School of the Arts 7th-best among 51 colleges and universities in North Carolina.1 Money magazine ranked it the 60th-best value among 705 U.S. colleges,2 and the 30th-best value among public colleges.3
School officials say that once instructors come to Winston-Salem, they find a tightly knit school, a vibrant community and a great place to raise a family.
It’s getting them here that’s the challenge.
A survey presented in March to the UNC Board of Governors found that UNCSA’s average faculty salary of $63,282 fell $25,000 below the median salary at its peer institutions,4 which include UCLA, Juilliard, NYU and Carnegie Mellon.
“We do struggle when compared to both our peer academic institutions as well as to what the industry can offer,” Interim Provost David English says in the accompanying video. “… When the legislature is able to make an appropriation for compensation, it definitely helps.”
Instructors understand salaries won’t increase overnight, English says. But as Baby Boomer faculty members retire, it’s difficult to hire replacements at salaries 30% to 50% below market rates.
“In an open-market economy, folks are not going to relocate from Disney or from UCLA or from NYU for 50% less than what they make, no matter what the cost-of-living adjustment is,” he says. “So for us, that’s been the biggest challenge.”
1 http://college.usatoday.com/2016/07/29/the-top-10-colleges-and-universities-in-north-carolina/
2 http://new.time.com/money/best-colleges/rankings/best-colleges/
3 http://new.time.com/money/best-colleges/rankings/best-public-colleges/
4 http://www.northcarolina.edu/apps/bog/index.php?mode=browse_premeeting&mid=5630&code=bog, Committee on Budget & Finance, Item 2, p. 26.
Michael Tiemann says
In addition to the facts and conclusions presented above, there is another glaring problem that results from underpaying the UNCSA faculty. When looking at how national college rankings are computed, Faculty resources are worth a lot (20% in this case) and Faculty Salaries is the single largest factor of that component (35% in this case). Netting it out to a bottom-line result: a University at the bottom of the faculty salary range is tantamount to forfeiting 7% of one’s total ranking score. 7% is a huge competitive handicap to overcome.
UNCSA’s conservatories and faculty are nationally–and in some cases, globally competitive today. When UNC BOG member Joan MacNeill gave her address to the UNCSA High School graduating class of 2016, she highlighted the fact that this class of 124 talented artists has collectively earned more than $5,000,000 in merit scholarships, an average of more than $40,000 per high school student. A strong competitive position leads to great financial rewards. According to Money Magazine’s surveys, our undergraduates’ early-career earnings are 20%-50% higher than other ranked UNC system schools. UNCSA is helping to create measurable value in one of America’s largest economic engines: the $700B Arts and Entertainment industry.
What UNCSA has managed to accomplish despite chronic underfunding is truly remarkable. But it is not sustainable. The good news is that our small size makes excellence affordable. The better news is that by paying what’s fair (according to UNC General Administration faculty rank minimums) and paying what’s right (to win the best teachers, who in turn attract the best students), we will not only build an even better school in the long term, but we can immediately leapfrog the competition by addressing our enormous ratings handicap right now.
Michael Tiemann
Chair, UNCSA Board of Trustees