Some 103 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada provided useable answers to a survey of higher educational institutions having annual instructional salary budgets of over $45,000 (note assistant professors at the time cost about $2,000 per year) conducted by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Results were published in 1908 (the Preface is dated April 1908), so we can reasonably presume the information reported is either from budgetary data for the academic year 1907-08 or for the academic year 1906-07. The 101 page Bulletin even went on to present data for professorial incomes in Germany!
As the entire Carnegie Foundation Bulletin can be downloaded, this posting is more of a research tip/teaser. I present below an excerpt for the top ten universities (out of 103), ranked by their annual appropriations for the salaries of instructional staff.
Plucking two sentences in lieu of an executive summary, I offer the following quotes from the Bulletin:
“Good, plodding men, who attend diligently to their profession [law, medicine and engineering are meant here] but who are without unusual ability, often obtain in middle life an income considerably higher tthan a man of the greatest genius can receive in an American professor’s chair.” [p. 25]
“A German who possesses such ability that he may expect in due time to become a full professor and who prepares himself for university teaching must expect to study until the age of thirty with no financial return, to study and teach as a docent till nearly thirty-six with an annual remuneration of less than $200, and to teach from thirty-six to forty-one with an annual remuneration of from $600 to $2,000, by which time he may become a full professor and will continue to receive his salary until his death [my emphasis]…If he succeeds… he may hope for a much larger reward and be assured of security in old age.” [p. vii]
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Average Salaries for Ranks, Age at Start of Rank, Student-Instructor Ratios
| Columbia | Harvard | Chicago | Michigan | Yale | |
| Total annual income (thousands of dollars) |
1.675 | 1.828 | 1.304 | 1.078 | 1.089 |
| Annual Appropriation for Salaries of Instructing Staff (thousands of dollars) |
1.145 | .842 | .699 | .536 | .525 |
| Average Salary of Professor | $4,289 | 4,413 | $3,600 | $2,763 | $3,500 |
| Average Age at Entrance to Grade of Professor | 37.5 | 39 | … | … | 35 |
| Average Salary of Associate Professor | … | $3,600 | $2,800 | $2,009 | … |
| Average Age at Entrance to Grade of Associate Professor | … | … | … | … | … |
| Average Salary of Assistant Professor | $2,201 | $2,719 | $2,200 | $1,624 | $2,000 |
| Average Age at Entrance to Grade of Assistant Professor | 32 | 33 | … | … | 29 |
| Average Salary of Instructor | $1,800 | $1,048 | $1,450 | $1,114 | $1,400 |
| Average Age at Entrance to Grade of Instructor | 29 | 28 | … | … | 24 |
| Average Salary of Assistant | $500 | $347 | $666 | … | … |
| Average Age at Entrance to Grade of Assistant | 24 | 26 | … | … | 23 |
| Total Number of Students in University | 4,087 | 4,012 | 5,070 | 4,282 | 3,306 |
| Total Instructing Staff in University | 559 | 573 | 291 | 285 | 365 |
| Ratio | 7.3 | 7 | 17.4 | 15 | 9 |
| Total Number of Students in Undergraduate Colleges and Non-professional Graduate Schools | 2,545 | 2,836 | 3,902 | 2,899 | 2,620 |
| Total Instructing Staff in Undergraduate Colleges and Non-professional Graduate Schools | 253 | 322 | 211 | 198 | 236 |
| Ratio | 10 | 8.8 | 18.4 | 14.6 | 11.1 |
Average Salaries for Ranks, Age at Start of Rank, Student-Instructor Ratios
| Cornell | Illinois | Wisconsin | Pennsyl-vania | UC Berkeley | |
| Total annual income (thousands of dollars) |
1.083 | 1.200 | .999 | .589 | .844 |
| Annual Appropriation for Salaries of Instructing Staff (thousands of dollars) |
.511 | .492 | .490 | .433 | .408 |
| Average Salary of Professor | $3,135 | $2,851 | $2,772 | $3,500 | $3,300 |
| Average Age at Entrance to Grade of Professor | … | … | 32.8 | … | … |
| Average Salary of Associate Professor | … | $2,168 | $2,081 | … | $2,200 |
| Average Age at Entrance to Grade of Associate Professor | … | … | 29.6 | … | … |
| Average Salary of Assistant Professor | $1,715 | $1,851 | $1,636 | $1,850 | $1,620 |
| Average Age at Entrance to Grade of Assistant Professor | … | … | 28.6 | … | … |
| Average Salary of Instructor | $924 | $1,091 | $1,065 | $1,000 | $1,100 |
| Average Age at Entrance to Grade of Instructor | … | … | 27.5 | … | … |
| Average Salary of Assistant | … | $660 | $542 | $650 | $850 |
| Average Age at Entrance to Grade of Assistant | … | … | 24.5 | … | … |
| Total Number of Students in University | 3,635 | 3,605 | 3,116 | 3,700 | 2,987 |
| Total Instructing Staff in University | 507 | 414 | 297 | 375 | 350 |
| Ratio | 7.1 | 8.7 | 10.4 | 9.8 | 8.5 |
| Total Number of Students in Undergraduate Colleges and Non-professional Graduate Schools | 2,917 | 2,281 | 2,558 | 2,618 | 2,451 |
| Total Instructing Staff in Undergraduate Colleges and Non-professional Graduate Schools | 283 | 190 | 231 | 166 | 218 |
| Ratio | 10.3 | 12 | 11 | 15.7 | 11.2 |
[From the table notes:]
“The grade of associate professor is only given when there is also the distinct grade of assistant professor in the same institution; otherwise the associate professor is classed throughout this discussion as an assistant professor.
Professors who are heads of departments received on an average $5,800 at the University of Chicago.
Figures for Cornell do not include the medical school.
Source: Table II in The Financial Status of the Professor in America and in Germany. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Bulletin Number Two. New York City, 1908, pp. 10-11.
Image Source: Website of the Carnegie Foundation.