[CAUT] college salaries

[Jeff Tanner]

On Thursday, November 4, 2004, at 01:04 PM, Don wrote:

> Yes, you do have
> "perks" like health care and pensions. But depending on where you live 
> (I'm
> from Canada) those perks may not be attractive enough to encourage a
> qualified technician who is established to apply.

And these health care and pension packages, as well as other "perks" 
like tuition assistance, vary greatly from state to state.  Cost of 
living differences are another component which are too often overlooked.

As a self-employed, you can decide how much you want to invest into a 
retirement account.  If the budget is tight this month, you can pay the 
light bill rather than put money in your IRA.  You might have bought 
KMart stock when it fell to 75¢/share and not need to ever put another 
dollar in your IRA.  A state employee has no choice.  That percentage 
of your pay is going into the state retirement system, and it doesn't 
care that your gas bill has doubled thanks to traders on Wall Street.  
And depending on what kind of retirement system you're in, you may have 
control over that money as yours to invest, borrow from, etc., as you 
please or you may not.

Similarly, your health insurance premiums (as well as coverage plans) 
will vary from state to state depending on average costs in your state, 
and how much of your premium your state government is willing to pay on 
your behalf.  Here, they introduced a new option this year to make it 
possible for state employees to opt for the new Health Savings Plans.  
But the small difference in premiums between the plans compared to the 
$3K/$6K versus $350/$700 deductibles didn't add up.  Not even close.  
One almost may as well not even have insurance.

Jeff