Faculty Pay Up 3.4% This Year, Study Says

College faculty salaries rose 3.4% this school year, with full professors at research universities making an average of $79,346, a study released Tuesday showed.

Though it was the largest increase in faculty pay in a decade, the American Assn. of University Professors survey, covering 1,839 colleges and universities in 1997-98, found that professors’ pay, when adjusted for inflation, is 4.4% lower than in 1971-72.

What’s more, faculty members earned 42% less than other professionals with similar education. Data on workers with at least 18 years of schooling showed the lowest-paid engineers and lawyers earning an average of $8,000 more than the lowest-paid professors. And the highest-paid engineers and lawyers made $62,000 more on average than their counterparts in academia.