Executive Summary - Arizona has not kept pace with the market for the type of workforce it needs to operate a world-class university system. Despite state-approved increases, Arizona university salaries remain below those in comparable jobs elsewhere. Average faculty salaries in particular range from 17 to 37 lower than the highest peer institution’s average salary. This may explain turnover rates for classified staff as high as 19 percent in the latest fiscal year. The loss of talented faculty has a devastating ripple effect, ranging from substantial losses in research funding to diminished capacity to attract quality students.
- The projected unmet salary need for the Arizona University System by the end of Fiscal Year 2010 is $137.2 million, an increase of $10.1 million or 8 percent from the FY 2009 projected unmet salary need of $127.1 million.
- While each university has increased its ranking over the past few years, there is still a large majority of the comparator universities that pay higher average salaries to their faculty than Arizona's universities pay. Specifically:
- 15 of the 28 peer universities pay higher average salaries than ASU, 19 of the 28 peer universities pay higher average salaries than the UA, and 14 of the 17 peer universities pay higher average salaries than NAU; and
- Average faculty salaries range from $1,500 to $10,500 (1.6-15.0 percent) below the peer median (50th percentile) at the three universities.
- The percent increase required to reach market for classified staff at the universities is 15.5 at ASU, 12.5 at NAU, and 14.2 at the UA.
- Faculty retention is a continuing problem for Arizona's universities. The average turnover rate for all categories of faculty at ASU is 10 percent. At the UA, the faculty turnover rate is 5.2 percent at the Main Campus and 10.3 percent at the Health Sciences Center. For NAU, the faculty turnover rate is 11 percent.
- Classified staff turnover is a chronic problem, with the universities losing far too many staff in positions that are critical to the operation and success of the institutions. Average turnover rates for classified staff range from 14.1-19 percent at the three universities.
Download 2008 Personnel Report PDF
