[CAUT] Position Opening at the University of South Carolina

[Paul T Williams]

Same situation for me Scott.  Although my pay ain't so big, the peace of 
mind is worth something!  Also, Jeff, how did they compensate you for all 
that overtime?  I'm not really "allowed" to work over 40 hours per week. 
When I have to work weekends and evenings, I just get to leave early on 
other days.  We don't get paid for OT, but get 1.5 hours of comp time for 
each OT hour worked.  It has to be pre-approved as well, which sometimes 
is applied for when turning in my time sheet! Sometimes, I just don't 
know, or get the dreaded "suprise" tuning at the end of the week.

Paul





"Scott E. Thile" <scott.thile at murraystate.edu> 
Sent by: caut-bounces at ptg.org
06/12/2008 05:44 PM
Please respond to
College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>


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"'College and University Technicians'" <caut at ptg.org>
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Subject
Re: [CAUT] Position Opening at the University of South Carolina






Wow, that sounds very close to my situation here too, Jeff... My take home 
is about the same... We do have tuition waivers equivalent to 6 classes a 
year for the immediate family, which helps a little. 
 
I just signed a one year contract for the same pay I had last year. We are 
going to get a one time $400 check in July instead of a cost of living or 
merit pay raise this year. Obviously, the cost of living increase (mostly 
food and gas) has caused that to be a significant pay cut this year. 
Thankfully, I live about 2 miles from school. 
 
The state of KY has cut higher ed funding across the board, and it's a 
miracle no salary lines are being cut here. All in all, I think we're 
doing pretty well compared to what a lot of people are facing, or are 
about to face. I think it's going to be a rough season for a lot of folks 
in this country.
 
While I'd rather have it a little easier, and make a little more, this is 
still a lot better for me... In terms of private sector work. I did that 
full time for 17 years before I took this position. No insurance, and no 
retirement (I kept having to wipe that out), and I worked much harder. My 
gross income was great, my net was certainly no better than I make now, 
and I had nothing for the future, and thank God none of us were facing 
major medical expenses. If I were still self employed, we'd either be 
completely broke, or very very sick and in a lot of pain!
 
All the best in your new endeavors, Jeff. I hope and pray things go well.
 
Scott
-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Jim 
Busby
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2008 12:30 PM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Position Opening at the University of South Carolina

Jeff,
 
I thought there for a moment that you were talking about the position 
here… (Very similar, overall.)
 
It’s hard to stay motivated when your independent technician friends are 
making twice what you are. Benefits and job security in an uncertain 
economy are sometimes all that keeps me here. Besides the friendship with 
the people around me. With your skills you should easily make much more, 
with much less stress. Yep, CAUT life isn’t necessarily the “life of 
Riley”. 
 
Thanks for the info. Makes me feel like I’m not alone.
 
Regards,
Jim Busby
 

From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Jeff 
Tanner
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2008 10:36 AM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: [CAUT] Position Opening at the University of South Carolina
 
Dear CAUTers,
Yes.  After 9 1/2 years, I've left my position at the University of South 
Carolina.  The responsibilities and difficulties of the situation were 
growing too fast for one person to have any chance of keeping up and the 
salary was never going to support living in the local community - not for 
raising a family at least.  The time requirements were getting 
unpredictable and increasing moonlighting requirements were making it more 
and more difficult to be committed to the unrealistic requirements of the 
staff position.  I'm planning to compose an email to the list for anyone 
interested in applying for the position to know what to expect. In fact, I 
already have, but it was too long and involved to send. In the meantime, 
if anyone has questions about the situation, feel free to email me 
privately at this address.
 
Important things one needs to know about this particular situation:  The 
benefits are not free on top of the salary. Employee contributions to 
benefits are a significant deduction from the paycheck.  At $52K, my daily 
take home pay was just shy of $134, or just under $2900/month. The 2008-09 
SC budget only provides for a 1% COL increase for state employees. Just 
three years ago, we had come through a 2 year period of salary freezes and 
I look for that to happen again next year. There is no tuition assistance 
for families. Children of employees do not go to college free or reduced, 
and USC has a relatively high tuition for state flagship schools in the 
region.  The employee can take up to 3 hours per semester if class space 
is available. Building outside private business in the local sector is 
very slow and often requires traveling well outside the local area. While 
some university techs regularly get calls because of their position, I 
averaged perhaps 2 calls a year, one of which was asking about the value 
of their piano for sale. Do not assume you won't have to moonlight. Unless 
you are financially independent, the advertised salary will not support a 
home, car payment, utilities, food and clothing in the local area. Do not 
expect to come in for a lower salary and get it adjusted upward later. The 
system doesn't allow for that type of employee rewarding.  You must 
negotiate the salary you expect at hire. The system limits performance 
increases to 10%, but don't expect to ever see a 10% performance increase. 
You can only qualify for a pay for performance increase once annually. 
With the price of gas and food going up daily, that is a very long wait 
between salary increases.
 
One technician who called me about the position opening expected that 
taking a university job would be an easier life. I've found it to be an 
extremely difficult and stressful means of earning an income.  I was 
working 70 plus hours a week and still living paycheck to paycheck.  If 
you're young and planning a family, I definitely cannot recommend it.
 
Probably the biggest reason I left was that the performance expectations 
don't allow for much of a family life.  I wasn't raised that way and I 
couldn't continue to subject my family to that kind of home life. If your 
idea of family life is the only time you see your wife and children is 
when you kiss them goodnight (and often not then) and put them on the 
school bus the next morning, then you may be ok with this work.  And yes, 
you get vacation leave, but you don't make enough money to be able to take 
your family on vacation.  We ran up a substantial amount of debt trying to 
wait for the salary to get to a level we could just pay monthly bills.  It 
was time to stop going backwards.
 
Jeff Tanner

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