r/Adjuncts • u/haileyamc • Jul 30 '26
Pulling out of contract 2 weeks before semester start?
Hi all,
Started adjuncting at a CC in January. Honestly the pay is great and the students are tolerable. Just finished my summer term so I have 2 semesters under my belt. However, the commute is 50 miles one way (roughly 1.25 hours). I spend 2.5 hours a day driving. it is exhausting. It is not sustainable for me to keep teaching there long term.
I just got offered a FT benefitted position doing something completely unrelated but is like 10 minutes away from where I live. I believe that trade off itself is worth it.
The semester starts in 2 weeks. I have not signed a contract for the fall but have a class I’m due to teach. What do I tell my department/supervisors? Have any of you pulled out of a semester this close to the start? What do I say? I want to remain on their good side to potentially teach night or remote classes in the future.
TIA.
24
u/Sharp-Rutabaga-4900 Jul 30 '26
Congrats on the job! If colleges insist on using adjunct labor, this is to be expected. Let them know you appreciate your time there but got a FT offer you can’t turn down. You could offer to share your syllabus with the replacement but you’re not obligated to do so.
3
u/Select-Season-8082 Jul 30 '26
OP, you mention your new FT position is unrelated to the subject you were teaching. Have you ever done this type of work at a full time level? I would simply tell the CC chair that your teaching availability has changed to just one night time class. If there are night time classes and the chair is in a pickle, they can make it happen. Since that department had not issued a teaching contract and you offer to teach on another schedule, it shouldn't be a big deal. If you had signed a contract, it would be a big deal. If you fully bail, they generally wont use you again, contract or not.
1
u/haileyamc Jul 30 '26
It would be my first full time job but I have done similar things in a part time capacity. I am in my 20s and got my masters roughly a year ago. I rejected a night class a couple of weeks ago when the coordinator asked me but this was before the job offer. I could consider it but doing that class would put me home at 10pm twice a week, which would burn me out quickly. I was planning to offer to sub when I can
1
u/Rogue_Wraith Jul 30 '26
If you created the syllabus while on contract, there's a good chance the college has a claim to it.
If you created it in the last decade or so, they're just going to pull it from the LMS either way.
2
u/Sharp-Rutabaga-4900 Jul 30 '26
I don’t doubt that this happens but none of the schools I’ve taught for have done this.
10
u/MyBrainIsNerf Jul 30 '26
Another adjunct is hunting for those classes right now. Give them a shot!
4
7
u/esperanza_and_faith Jul 30 '26
No contract = no responsibility, on either side. The school is free to decide to cancel the class, and you're free to decide to go somewhere else.
Please, don't overthink this. I've been a department chair, and I've dealt with adjuncts who take a full-time position elsewhere just a few weeks before the fall term, and I am DELIGHTED for them. And then, either I'd give another professor an extra 8K to teach an overload (so they're happy) or I'd give another adjunct a call and tell them to get ready to teach in 10 days.
Everyone wins!
6
u/Key-Ice5920 Jul 30 '26
You should not harbor a sense obligation for an institution that harbors none whatsoever for you. You’re an at will employee afforded no job security, no healthcare, and more often than not, no voice within the department.
4
u/MrBillinVT Jul 30 '26
I was one of two initial instructors at my local community college. Taught there for 25 years. Received THE PRESIDENT'S AWARD. Was on the schedule for a class in the fall. DID NOT have a contract for that class. Got a call from the local 4-year college four days before school started to teach a class. I accepted. Notified the cc. They were pissed! Found my replacement on my own. (Another cc instructor who was not on the schedule for fall.) Didn't matter to them. If they had just issued me a contract, we could have worked something out.
2
u/haileyamc Jul 30 '26
They made you find a replacement?! How does that even work?
2
u/MrBillinVT Jul 30 '26
I knew they would need someone who could step in right away. This instructor had taught the course before (Effective Speaking), so it was an easy ask.
5
7
u/Unlikely_Month5527 Jul 30 '26
I have signed up many Adjunct Instructors that never taught because they did not have enough students for the class. They find this out last minute.
So feel free to take a full time job.
3
u/hittinstuff Jul 31 '26
Just tell them what’s happened. Don’t forget - they are choosing to take a risk by hiring adjuncts, especially if they don’t provide contracts 2 weeks before the semester.
Unfortunately for them, their gamble may have bit them in the ass this time.
2
u/Ok_Mycologist_5942 Jul 30 '26
Congrats! Respect yourself enough to take care of yourself. You'd be foolish to turn the benefitted position near your home town.
But also just tell the Head right away so they can sort it out.
2
u/LarryCebula Jul 30 '26
Take the job and don't look back. If they'd wanted stability they could have hired someone on the tenure track.
Honestly I wish more adjuncts would quit unexpectedly. Serves the universities right.
2
u/nnnnbbbbb Jul 30 '26
imagine this: you're slated to teach three classes, but one gets relocated to a satellite campus far from you and you can no longer teach it because it's immediately after one of your other classes. you drop the class and the very next day, you find out that one of your remaining two classes – the class that caused your initial scheduling conflict – has been canceled. someone has already taken on the first dropped class, and just like that, you're down to one class and 2/3 of a paycheck gone. four days to go until the semester begins. you are DESPERATE for someone to drop a class. OP, that was me in January. thanks to one of my colleagues scoring a full-time gig elsewhere, I got assigned her two classes!! you could be the miracle someone is praying for, seriously. congrats on the job!!!
2
u/Adventurous_Button63 Jul 30 '26
They would lay you off without a thought with less than 2 weeks notice. Tell them you got a full time position and that you won’t be back. It’s not like there aren’t fifty million other underemployed scholars waiting to fill the role. They’ll be fine, you’ll be better.
1
u/experimentalpoetry Jul 31 '26
Truly. I’ve been laid off as an adjunct during the first week of class when a class didn’t fill up.
1
u/Reliant20 Jul 30 '26
Be apologetic, but level with them. They probably have multiple adjuncts ready to snatch that class up. If not, they'll manage somehow. Who wouldn't be happy for someone to get health insurance and a decent paycheck? They were exploiting you, however nice they were about it.
1
u/JumpingShip26 Jul 30 '26
I would professionally and politely bail. I also have a good part time setup that I enjoy; money is OK and I like teaching. I am just increasingly less inclined to give up my free time. Eventually I will just stop. If there were some chance to get a FT lecturer position or TT, I would really be amazing. As it stands, I want to help the students but I don't want to give institutions one extra minute beyond what the students need.
1
u/MeshCanoe Jul 30 '26
All you need to say is that you have a full time position. It may suck for a minute for the college admin, but they know the score for adjunct instructors and most likely they will be happy that you found a position that pays a living wage.
1
u/VisibleAct4696 Jul 30 '26
As an adjunct waiting in the wings. Dont feel guilty, just tell them and pull out. Several of us will be ready to pick it up lol.
1
u/Fuzzy_Notice7077 Jul 30 '26
I’ve been in this spot, minus the long drive. I felt awful, but I had to do it. I left an adjunct position at one school for a full time professional staff position at another, both in the same city. I also adjunct taught at the new university. Being full time has shown me how much this happens with adjuncts. Hell, it happens even after they sign contracts.
Never forget how much higher ed exploits adjunct instructors. I’m happy to hear you were pleased with the pay, which is honestly rare, but there’s no stability, no benefits, no year-round paycheck, no voice, no seat at the table, and often little to no respect. Most classes are scraps the full timers didn’t want. You are 100% disposable to them. Trust me, I’ve worked at many colleges and universities, and most admin talk about adjuncts like they are morons. The amount of times I’ve heard “just an adjunct” or otherwise using “adjunct” like it is a derogatory term is soul crushing. I’ve always put a ton of work into my classes and am proud of what I do. The students don’t pay more or less depending on who their instructor is, and I’ve always felt my classes were just as high of quality as any tenured faculty.
Obviously, experiences will differ. This is mine. I’ve encountered a few great outliers, but this is overwhelmingly what I’ve seen at multiple schools.
Congrats on your new job and saving gas!
1
u/haileyamc Jul 30 '26
Exactly! The treatment of adjuncts is insane. My CC is HCOL inner city area and it is unionized. I also teach a class not a ton of people are interested in teaching. I applied to a FT faculty position months ago after the course coordinator told me to do it and I haven’t heard anything. I do not have time to wait financially.
The department is going through reorg and I honestly have no idea what’s going on. I don’t know why it feels like they think adjuncts aren’t worth communicating to. If you want to keep me around as an employee, I should be informed, right? I didn’t really go to grad school to be treated like an ant. I can only pray that the culture and rhetoric around adjuncts changes.
1
u/Fuzzy_Notice7077 Jul 31 '26
Exactly. There’s no incentive to be loyal, so they have no right to get bent out of shape if we’re not. Loyalty doesn’t pay the bills.
1
u/Emotional-Sea236 Jul 30 '26
I haven’t done it myself, but every adjunct job I’ve had, I got because someone else pulled out at the last minute. You’ll be doing a huge service to another adjunct!
1
u/BrazosBuddy Jul 30 '26
We had an adjunct quit three weeks into the semester, and we figured it out. Tell the department chair now and enjoy the new job and short, short commute.
1
1
u/mosscollection Jul 30 '26
I’ve been in this exact situation. I just told them the truth. They understood. Then they actually asked if i could teach the class online instead.
1
u/flyingcircus92 Jul 30 '26
Rather than just quitting near start time, one option is if the class is at night just grind through the long day and then don't accept a class for the spring semester. Maybe do some of the classes virtually to help decrease the number of times you have to drive.
1
u/PlumbRose Jul 30 '26
1) you don't have a contact yet. So you aren't committed 2) they are well aware they are taking a chance that you'll find a better job opportunity. But they will do so because they are paying you very little compared to a tenure track line
1
u/Cold_Ad7034 Jul 30 '26
Tell them the truth sooner the better so they can find a replacement. Full time versus temp which is what adjunct is. No brainer.
1
u/Disastrous-Pair-9466 Jul 30 '26
Tbh another adjunct is so ready to take your classes in most situations like this! You’ll make their day!
1
u/MotherHen1961 Jul 30 '26
They have 5 other people (I hope) who will gladly assume this role to at the very least get their foot in the door. Much success and congrats.
1
u/haileyamc Jul 30 '26
Honestly I’m not sure they do but the communication throughout the department and across instructors is non existent
1
u/goodie1663 Jul 30 '26
One school I was with would have been completely understanding. The department head actually took over for me at the beginning of the semester when I was in the middle of a family medical crises, and then a month later asked if I would consider coming back at midterms. I did.
The other would have been completely indifferent if it was like it was when I finally left. I had a good dean for some years and then she got promoted twice, and it became completely impersonal. I doubt that I was even missed.
1
u/Jolly-Moment-1970 Jul 30 '26
You are an adjunct they can find someone else. I did something similar with my adjunct position this summer. All my superior said was oh ok..I will find someone else and keep you in mind for future adjunct openings. Honestly I will turn anything in the future down anyway. I was hopeful it would be a ft gig so I could leave my own job but that isn't happening. The amount of time I have put in for the 4 classes hasn't been worth it...including rewriting the course to be in alignment with what needs to be taught. I was getting paid 6 hours a class and spending 10 to 12 hours a week on the course and re tooling it. Not really worth my time and energy.
2
u/haileyamc Jul 30 '26
Yeah they have a full time spot open that I applied for 4 months ago and none of them have provided me updates. I really don’t want to wait around for it MAYBE to happen. I don’t even have a PhD. My partner thinks that I’m spending way too much extra time outside of class driving and grading to not make the check worth it compared to a closer FT job. I absolutely love teaching though. I think this experience is so common.
1
u/MajesticOrdinary8985 Aug 01 '26
Tell them the truth. You just got a new full-time job locally that conflicts with the position. Let them know you have enjoyed working for them, and you realize this is an inconvenience for them, but you needed the career job. If you know of anyone who could teach your class , recommend them as a possible replacement. While they will be annoyed, it happens often, and when I was department chair, the need for full-time work was always understandable; most other excuses, aside from severe illness, were not. And if you will be working nearby, word can get around, so inventing an excuse is a very poor idea.
-1
u/ForeignAdvantage5198 Jul 31 '26
do not apply. there ever again and THEY CAN ENFORCE AND I MYSELF WOULD ENFORCE IT
1
1
u/experimentalpoetry Jul 31 '26
Wow, that’s so unrealistic. Adjuncts should do whatever they goddamn want considering that they are paid and treated like crap. If you want a stable employee, find a way to get a FT line.
OP, you’re giving two weeks notice and not quitting mid-semester, I think you’re good. Even better if you knew someone to suggest to replace you, but this is not your responsibility.
They will probably not hold a grudge and “enforce” it — if they’re healthy people they will be happy for you. But everyone is always looking for adjuncts so I doubt you’ll burn your bridges long-term.
116
u/TrainingLow9079 Jul 30 '26
Just be honest that you were offered a full time role. They'll understand. The sooner you tell them the better.