Brian Legakis, CCFT Historian
I have taught Art History at Cabrillo College since 1987 and I am in favor of dramatic action to address the need for faculty salary increases. At Cabrillo we have witnessed the decline in faculty salaries over the past 12 years from a high in the top 25% to a low now in the bottom 25% among 73 community college districts statewide. Compounding the frustration among faculty about low salaries is the fact that we live in one of the most expensive counties in the state. How expensive is it here?
On February 2nd of this year our own Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors declared that our county is consistently ranked one of the least affordable places to live in the country. According to CareerTrends.com, the cost of living in Santa Cruz County is ranked fifth most expensive in California and the 12th most expensive region in the US. According to Forbes magazine our county’s cost of living is 30% above the national average, and unlike the rest of California the economy in our county has not bounced back along with the state. To make matters worse the California Employment Development Department lists our County as having an unemployment rate of 9 percent in January of this year.
When combining both lower income and higher cost of living, Santa Cruz County ranks the most expensive region in the nation. It’s no wonder that The Sentinel entitled their article for housing in May of 2015 “Out of Reach 2015”. That article was a year ago – its approaching May of 2016 soon and we are more out of reach in housing than ever.
Single Cabrillo College faculty members, living alone, are met with egregious housing costs – nearly eliminating the thought of their ever owning a home and struggling to find affordable rentals. Couples sharing the costs of housing find the added obstacle of one of the highest unemployment rates in the state.
Low salaries and high cost of living affects current Cabrillo faculty and the college as a whole during faculty recruitment. How can we realistically compete with other colleges in our region when our faculty pay is so low and our cost of living is so high? Maintaining excellence in faculty should be a number one priority of this college. For the present and for the future, we need to restore competitive salary compensation for our faculty.