Hi, we’re your professors here at the School of Cinematic Arts. You may know us. You probably like us. Why? We work really hard to make sure you have a profound experience here. We know it’s working because of our end-of-semester reviews which usually tell us we were one of your favorite professors.

Want to hear some actual evaluations we’ve gotten?

“Professor [Doe] is not only one of the best teachers I have had at USC, [she] stands out in regard to all the teachers I have ever had… [She] taught us not only how to write better, but also how to learn better, critique better, revise better and listen better to each other. She is one of a kind.”

“[He] was the single best professor I had at USC. He has so much passion for teaching and care for his students. His lectures are nothing short of inspiring and his love for writing is infectious … I am in awe of the amount of time and energy he spends outside of the classroom to make our class the best experience possible … He is one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met and I’m so lucky to have found his class.”

“I don’t know where to start. [She] is BRILLIANT. She is very smart, very organized and she’s also well-versed in all the process of Filmmaking. She’s clear and bright and sensitive and really loves teaching. She’s also a very cultivated human being. She’s just the best.”

“[He] is amazing! He was always transparent with his notes, available when we needed him, and just really helpful with allowing his students to find their voices! Best writing professor I’ve had at this school!!!”

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But even though you like our classes, you may not be getting the education you should be. Why? Because we’re adjunct professors, hired to work on a part-time, contractual basis. 

What does that mean? USC’s dirty little secret is that it charges top dollar for an education, but uses cheap labor to deliver it.

You know how companies rely on the backs of gig workers in order to pay people less, and not have to pay for benefits? Well, USC is gig-ifying your education.

Over half of the faculty at SCA are adjunct professors. They teach the same classes as full-time professors, but are paid about one-fifth of the wages.

We teach two courses a semester, 20 hours a week and make $22,000 a year before premiums and taxes. And yet, we live in Los Angeles, one of the most expensive cities in the country. If you make less than $70,000 a year in L.A. County, you’re considered low-income.

In order to be eligible to enroll for university benefits like health insurance, we must work more than 50% of the time, or at least two classes. Because we work in industries that are notoriously fickle, many of us rely on teaching two classes to access health insurance in lean years. 

But recently, according to SCA’s administration, USC has implemented a policy to reduce all adjuncts’ course loads to one class per semester. The result is that those adjuncts can no longer get USC benefits or healthcare.

Last year, many of us found out in late November that we were losing our health insurance in January and our income was being cut in half. Beyond the fact that this is morally reprehensible, why should you care about this?

Because you may not be getting the education you’re paying for. For a 10-person, four-unit class, you pay $2,354 per unit, or $9,416 per four-unit class, so in total $94,160 is paid to USC. But your adjunct professor’s salary for that class is roughly $5,500 — less than 6% of what USC makes from the class goes to the person who is educating you.

Let’s say it’s a 100-person lecture course? That’s nearly half a million dollars paid to USC, and the professor’s salary is about 1% of the total.

It seems clear the money you’re spending is not going to the people who are the primary providers of that education to you.

We really do love what we do. We love teaching. We couldn’t get the reviews we get if we didn’t. But sometimes teaching at USC is like swimming while holding a giant rock — you’re doing something you love, while slowly drowning.

But we love the look in a student’s eye when they figure something out, and we watch them grow in front of our eyes. But every month, some of us look at our bank accounts and watch it dip lower and lower, even though we’re often told by students we teach their favorite class. Some of us are living a life of quiet desperation. Some of your professors are on food stamps.

The education system here at SCA is broken. And it’s driving your professors to other schools who pay more, provide health insurance and other benefits and offer longer-term contracts.

So when you see news about teachers trying to unionize here, please know, this isn’t just about us. It’s about you. Because you deserve more, too.

Your devoted SCA faculty,