Office Hours
Questions? Contact Will Dalrymple, PFF Co-President (PT)
Everything You Need to Know
Beginning this semester, PT Faculty can offer up to 16 office hours for every 20% of instructional load (FTE). That's FULL PARITY with our FT colleagues!
What's the Process?
It's three steps:
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Calculate how many hours you're eligible to offer.
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In your syllabus, include the hours and location(s) you plan to meet.
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Submit your hours to Payroll.
How Do I Calculate My Hours?
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Use your Hourly Assignment Notice (HAN) to add up the FTE of your instructional assignments.
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Multiply your FTE by 0.8 to get the hours you're eligible to offer (FTE x 0.8 = Hours).
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Examples:
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If you have an FTE of 20%, multiply 20 by 0.8 to get 16 hours (20 x 0.8 = 16).
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If you have an FTE of 46.67%, multiply 46.67 by 0.8 to get 37.3 hours (46.67 x 0.8 = 37.3).
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IF (and only if) you have a "typical" assignment (1 FTE = 15 units (CR) or 1 FTE = 20 hours (NC)), you can skip the math and use one of the quick & dirty charts:
Credit (CR)
Non-Credit (NC)
1 FTE = 15 Units
1 FTE = 20 Hours
Units
%FTE
Office Hours
Hours
%FTE
Office Hours
1
6.67
5.3
1
5
4
2
13.34
10.7
2
10
8
3
20
16.0
3
15
12
4
26.67
21.3
4
20
16
5
33.34
26.7
5
25
20
6
40
32.0
6
30
24
7
46.67
37.3
7
35
28
8
53.34
42.7
8
40
32
9
60
48.0
9
45
36
10
66.67
53.3
10
50
40
11
55
44
12
60
48
13
65
52
14
70
56
Submission Instructions
Here's the Palomar College Office Hours page. BUT don't submit your hours yet. The form still needs to be updated to accurately reflect that it's your teaching load/FTE that matters, not your units/hours.
What Else Should I Know?
Do I need to include language in my syllabus?
Yes. Include the hours and location(s) you plan to meet.
Where can I hold my office hours?
Bottom line: Wherever/however it best meets the need of your students. That said, the contract says that, ideally, you should meet in the same modality as the class—in person if your class is in person, online if your class is online.
Do I have to offer office hours?
No. But if not, I'd say take a moment to reconsider. Office hours are where we get to meet our students in ways that we can't in the classroom—namely, exactly where they're at. And after all our hard work prepping/teaching/grading, is there any easier money??
Do I have to offer so many hours?
No. Offering office hours is completely voluntary. How many you offer, or if you offer them at all, is entirely up to you.
I don't have an office. Where can I meet my students in person?
Check with your department ADA to find out if your department has space set aside. Or check out the PT Faculty Workroom in NS-153. In the meantime, we'll continue to negotiate for greater access to office space.
Why isn't the submission form ready yet?
New funding was made available by the state just before the beginning of the semester. To take advantage of that, we negotiated the agreement at record pace. Now the Payroll office is in the process of catching up.
Wait, how much is the pay?
Office hours are paid at your Non-Instructional rate. See the salary schedules on the HR webpage. It's basically a dollar less than your Instructional rate. At an average rate of $95/hour, 16 hours works out to about $1,500. That's a 30% bump over your classroom pay alone. Could you use a 30% raise? If you're teaching three 3-unit classes, that's $4,500. Could you use a $4,500 raise?
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Are these the kind of gains you'd like to see continue? As PT faculty, we weren’t always paid to offer office hours. We are now because of PFF. Are you a PFF member? Bouncing between colleges, we don't always realize we're not. If you're not sure, shoot me a note. And if you're not a member, I encourage you to see some of the additional benefits and JOIN.