How to Become an Adjunct Professor

Short answer: you usually need a master's degree with at least 18 graduate credit hours in the subject you will teach. Career and technical courses often accept a bachelor's degree, or an associate degree plus work experience; graduate courses need a doctorate. Apply to a department's adjunct pool or write to the chair a few months before the term. Pay is per course: $4,093 on average for a three-credit section, according to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

By the AcademicCareers.com editorial team · Updated October 14, 2026 · 10-minute read

What adjunct professors do

Adjunct professors, also called adjunct instructors or part-time faculty, teach individual courses on contracts that usually last a term or an academic year. You plan and teach the course, often from a syllabus and learning outcomes the department sets, grade student work, hold office hours and submit final grades. Research and committee work are rarely part of the job, and pay is per course rather than a salary.

Nurses, accountants, engineers and lawyers teach in their field alongside their main job; recent graduates build a teaching record; retirees stay in the classroom. CUPA-HR, the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, reports that 88 percent of adjuncts hold an advanced degree and only about 7 percent teach as their full-time job. Openings are plentiful: more than a third of the jobs on AcademicCareers.com are part-time or adjunct positions, 1,075 of them in October 2026.

The qualifications you need

Each college sets its own rules, but many follow the faculty credentials guideline of the accreditor long known as SACSCOC, now The Commission on Colleges and Universities:

The 18 hours must be in the teaching subject, and the college decides which courses count, so send transcripts early. Example (fictional): Marcus has an MBA with 21 graduate hours in management and 9 in accounting. He qualifies to teach management, but needs 9 more graduate hours in accounting to teach it.

The figure is a benchmark, not a law. The accreditor itself stresses that colleges must justify each instructor's qualifications, and that experience, licenses and certifications can qualify someone for some courses, especially applied and technical ones. Try the checker to see where you stand.

Where to find openings

• Adjunct pools. Many departments keep a part-time faculty ad open all year, and chairs check the pool when a section opens. Apply in every subject you can teach, even when no course is advertised.
• Department chairs build the schedule and often fill late sections themselves. A short, specific e-mail gets read.
• Community colleges hire adjuncts every term, often for evening and online sections. See community college faculty jobs and, for career and technical programs, workforce education jobs.
• Online programs let you teach beyond commuting distance: see online adjunct jobs and our guide to online and remote college teaching jobs.

Start with adjunct faculty jobs and a free job alert for your subject; adjunct terms already appear in 232 alerts on AcademicCareers.com. Your field matters too: at the colleges in CUPA-HR's survey, adjuncts were 32 percent of faculty in the liberal arts and humanities and 23 percent in education, but only 3 percent in engineering.

What to send

• A teaching CV: your degrees with the graduate hours in each subject, the courses you can teach, teaching and professional experience, and licenses. See how to write an academic CV.
• A cover letter: one page naming the courses, the formats you can teach (in person, hybrid or online), the days and times you are free, and one example of your teaching.
• A teaching statement: one page built on real examples; see how to write a teaching philosophy statement.
• A sample syllabus with learning outcomes, a weekly schedule, assignments and grading. It shows a chair you can run a section.
• Transcripts: unofficial copies to apply, official ones before you teach, since accreditors expect colleges to document every instructor's qualifications.
• References: two or three people who have seen you teach, train or present.

The most useful line on a teaching CV lists courses with the credential behind them, for example: ENG 101 Composition I, ENG 102 Composition II (M.A. in English, 36 graduate hours).

A sample e-mail to a department chair

Keep it short. Send it to the chair, or to the dean's office if the department's page says so, and follow up once after two weeks.

A fictional sample: the names and details are invented.

When to apply

Departments build schedules a term or more ahead, then fill gaps in the final weeks. Apply early, and answer fast: a chair filling a section a week before classes often hires the first qualified person who replies.

Across all jobs on AcademicCareers.com, 46.5 percent of postings bought since August 2019 were placed between August and November, and October is about three times as busy as June. Early fall is a good time to refresh your pool applications for spring.

Workload and pay

Workload. A three-credit course meets about three hours a week for 15 weeks. Preparation, grading and office hours often take as long again, or more the first time. At nine hours a week in all, a term is about 135 hours of work.

Pay. The AAUP found average pay of $4,093 per three-credit section in 2024-25, unchanged from the year before and so lower after inflation; the median starting rate was $3,130. CUPA-HR's median was $1,166 per credit hour, or $3,498 per course: $1,265 per credit hour at doctoral universities and $1,028 at associate's colleges. At $4,093, the 135-hour course pays about $30 an hour.

Benefits are the exception. Nearly 70 percent of colleges that hire per-course faculty provide them neither retirement nor medical benefits, the AAUP found, although associate's colleges are the most likely to help. See adjunct professor pay for the details and how to judge an offer.

Load caps and teaching at several colleges

Under the Affordable Care Act's employer rules, an employee who averages 30 hours of service a week, or 130 a month, is full-time. The IRS allows colleges to credit adjuncts with 2.25 hours of service per classroom hour, covering preparation and grading, plus an hour for each other required hour, such as office hours.

Worked example: four three-credit courses meet about 12 hours a week, which counts as 27 hours. Add three required office hours and you reach 30. That is why many colleges cap adjunct loads. Ask about the cap, and whether courses at other colleges in the same system count toward it.

To build a fuller schedule, adjuncts often teach at two or three colleges. Keep one calendar for every class and deadline, since terms and grade deadlines differ; choose sections that fit together, using online ones to cut commuting; and read each contract for outside-work rules, cancellation terms and pay dates. Income stays modest: CUPA-HR calculates that a full-time-equivalent load of 36 credit hours a year pays under $42,000 at the median rate.

Surviving your first semester

• Get set up early: contract, ID, e-mail and learning management system access, the course shell and syllabus, a desk copy, your room and parking. Ask when pay arrives; Collin College, for example, pays fall in four monthly installments from September to December.
• Use what the department gives you rather than building everything in your first term.
• Plan your grading with rubrics, staggered due dates and blocked grading time.
• Set reply rules, such as within one working day, and keep them.
• Know where to send students: tutoring, disability services and counseling.
• Invite an observation. A good one brings more courses and sometimes more pay: Carroll Community College raises its rate after six semesters and a positive observation.

From adjunct to full-time

Adjunct work can lead to a full-time job, though not reliably. Departments know their adjuncts, and strong ones are often encouraged to apply when a position opens. Full-time teaching roles pay a salary with benefits: the AAUP's 2025-26 averages are $74,087 for instructors and $84,292 for lecturers. Teach a range of courses, keep evaluations and observation reports in a portfolio, and watch for instructor and lecturer openings. Tenure-track jobs at four-year colleges usually require a doctorate.

Frequently asked questions

Can I become an adjunct professor with a master's degree?

Yes. A master's in the subject, or one with at least 18 graduate semester hours in it, is the usual minimum for undergraduate courses.

Can I teach as an adjunct with a bachelor's degree?

Often, for career and technical courses: the common guideline accepts a bachelor's in the field, or an associate degree plus proven skill. Academic transfer courses usually need a graduate degree.

Do I need teaching experience to become an adjunct?

It helps but is not always required. Experience as a teaching assistant, trainer, tutor, preceptor or workshop leader counts; describe it in your cover letter.

How much do adjunct professors make per class?

$4,093 on average per three-credit course (AAUP, 2024-25); CUPA-HR's median is $3,498. Published 2026-27 scales run from about $3,000 at some community colleges to more than $7,800 at UMass Lowell.

How many classes can an adjunct teach?

It depends on the college's cap. Many keep adjuncts below the Affordable Care Act's 30-hour line, which four courses plus required office hours can reach. You can also teach at several colleges.

Do adjunct professors get benefits?

Sometimes. The AAUP found that 32.7 percent of colleges contribute to retirement for some or all per-course faculty and 30.6 percent to medical premiums; CUPA-HR says 37 percent offer adjuncts health benefits.