Compensation

       Faculty are compensated for their services with a salary that is subject to withholding for taxes, FICA, and Medicare. Faculty salaries depend on the school, rank, discipline, length of service, and professional accomplishments. Full-time faculty, with the exception of those appointed for only one term, are paid in 24 equal semi-monthly installments for service rendered over academic calendars of varying lengths, as described in Terms of Appointments. Full-time faculty appointed for only one term are paid in 12 equal semi-monthly installments. Part-time faculty are paid in equal semi-monthly installments during the period in which they are teaching.

       Merit increases for full-time faculty are given on July 1, and are based on a review of professional achievement and service to the University.

       Full-time faculty who resign before or during a semester will have their compensation prorated and will be asked to return any excess salary received.

       Officers of research, the libraries, and administration may be compensated for teaching one course per term, up to a maximum of two during an academic year, under certain circumstances. The two-course limit applies to all classes, regardless of whether they are for credit or not, whether they are offered during a regular term or the summer, and whether the officer is the sole instructor or is teaching the course collaboratively with other faculty.

       Officers of research, the libraries, and administration are given secondary, part-time instructional appointments when they teach. Any compensation they receive for teaching is paid on that appointment rather than as additional compensation. Special rules designed to ensure that the University complies with federal regulations govern the payments to officers of research (Compensation). Before making a commitment to appoint full-time, non-instructional officers to teach, the schools and departments must obtain the approval of the officers’ immediate supervisors and the chair, director, and dean or executive vice president of the units within which the officers perform their primary responsibilities. SPA must also authorize teaching appointments for officers of research. The Vice Provost and University Librarian must authorize teaching appointments offered to officers of the libraries. The Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer must authorize teaching appointments for officers of administration. These appointments are then approved by the Office of the Provost on the Morningside and Manhattanville campuses and the Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences at the Irving Medical Center campus. When an officer appointed on the Morningside or Manhattanville campus is asked to teach on the Irving Medical Center campus or vice versa, both the Executive Vice President and the Office of the Provost must approve the assignment.

       Full- and part-time faculty who engage in patient care activities at the Irving Medical Center participate in faculty practice plans organized through their school or department. The practice plans outline the rights and obligations of participating faculty, including compensation arrangements. For further information on the faculty practice plans, officers should contact their dean or the Office of the Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences.

       Each month, during the regular academic terms of their respective Faculties, full-time faculty may receive up to 20 percent of their monthly base salary as compensation for providing extra services. Faculty are not allowed to earn more than 20 percent of their monthly base salary as additional compensation in any month, and no exceptions can be made to this percentage. Those who are paid for eight or nine months of service may earn 3/9 of their base salary as additional compensation during the summer, or in the case of the Faculty of Business, in their trimester off. Payments made under the Housing Assistance Program of the University and the individual schools, and payments made in the Executive Education and other non-degree non-credit programs (irrespective of modality) of the University and various schools are excluded from these limits.

       The income full-time faculty at the Irving Medical Center may earn through a faculty practice plan is not affected by these limitations, nor is that income taken into consideration in determining the amount of additional compensation they may receive from other sources.

       Payments of additional compensation must be approved by the chair of the faculty member’s primary department and the appropriate dean or executive vice president, even if the services are rendered in another part of the University. They also require the approval of the Provost. For faculty in the Faculties of Dental Medicine, Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health, the Provost has delegated this responsibility to the Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences. In other parts of the University, the Associate Provost for Academic Appointments authorizes the payments on the Provost’s behalf. No promises of additional compensation may be made until all of the necessary approvals have been obtained, nor may anyone start the additional work in anticipation of those approvals.

       Additional compensation paid from an externally sponsored award must comply with the government regulations on salary augmentation as well as University policies. Such payments are rarely allowable during the regular academic terms (eight months on the Manhattanville campus, nine months on the Morningside campus; nine or 12 months at the Irving Medical Center). Full-time faculty on the Morningside and Manhattanville campuses may, however, receive up to the equivalent of 2 ½ months of salary from sponsored projects during the summer months. Information on when additional compensation is allowed may be found in the Policy on Charging and Documentation of Personnel Costs Charged to Sponsored Projects.

       Full-time faculty ordinarily may not be remunerated beyond their base salaries for teaching more than their normal course load during the regular academic terms. In the rare circumstances when a department cannot find someone else with the necessary expertise to teach an essential course, exceptions to this policy are permitted with the prior approval of the Provost or, for faculty at the Irving Medical Center, of the Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences. Exempted from this rule are noncredit continuing and special education courses.

       Full-time faculty may receive additional compensation for other services such as individual lectures, special advising, preparation of special academic materials, and administrative services. Those on the nine-month calendar may also be paid for teaching in a summer term.

       Part-time faculty are not paid additional compensation for teaching. If it is necessary to increase their instructional responsibilities, their base salaries are adjusted to reflect the additional service to the University. Part-time officers who do not have any other University appointment may receive extra compensation for other services as long as the total services rendered to the University are not equivalent to those of a full-time officer, and the amount of additional compensation does not equal or exceed half of the compensation they are receiving for teaching. Those who hold full-time appointments as officers of research, the libraries, or administration are ordinarily not eligible for compensation beyond their base salary except for teaching as described above.

       No faculty member or other officer may receive consultancy fees or honoraria from the University. All payments for extra services must be made in the form of additional compensation and are subject to withholding for taxes. The term honorarium should never be used to refer to such payments, either colloquially or in the description of the compensation. Similarly, faculty research fellowships, housing allowances, travel allowances, and mortgage subsidies are, by law, forms of compensation from which the University must withhold taxes.

       The University contributes to a full-time officer’s pension account on additional compensation earned during the summer for teaching and research. Other additional salary payments earn pension contributions only when they are for services performed over eight months or more and are for amounts of at least $1,000. All contributions on additional compensation are computed at the rate applied to the officer’s regular salary.

       Full-time faculty who teach in programs that have 12-month academic calendars earn vacation on an academic yearly basis. Those who are on an academic calendar shorter than 12 months do not. Part-time faculty are not entitled to vacation.

       Faculty eligible for vacation may request salary advances once a year prior to vacation by completing a vacation pay advance form. The Controller’s Office will make salary advances for reasons other than vacation only in extraordinary circumstances and only with the written recommendation of the officer’s dean or executive vice president.

       Eligible faculty earn two days of vacation for each month of full-time service, up to a maximum of 23 days, during their first 20 years of full-time appointment and at the rate of 2 1/3 days for each month, up to a maximum of 28 days thereafter. Faculty do not accrue vacation while they are on full or partial leaves.

       Vacation time may not be accumulated beyond June 30 of the year following the one in which it was earned. A faculty member may not receive pay in lieu of unused vacation except upon termination of appointment.

       Officers who are entitled to vacation are expected to plan it in consultation with their chair or dean to ensure that their vacation does not interfere with the programs of their department or school. They may not take vacation days that have not yet been earned.

Next Section: End of Appointment

Updated May 19, 2023