EMU is an exceptional place in many ways. Its campus culture, history, and programs make it a special place for numerous people. Unfortunately, the university might stand out for one reason more than any other: its exceptionally low faculty salaries.
According to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), which publishes data on faculty pay for institutions across the country, EMU ranks in the bottom 2% nationally when it comes to full-time faculty pay, with the average full-time faculty member making $58,100 a year. Narrowing the field to just Virginia, EMU is the second-lowest paying institution in the state.
When you compare EMU only to institutions with similar size and degree-granting classifications, the numbers are even more stark. EMU is the sixth-lowest paying institution in the nation within their AAUP class, and it is the lowest in the country in their Carnegie Basic Classification (CBC) cohort.
According to the EMU Employee Handbook, “CCCU [Council for Christian Colleges and Universities] member institutions are the principle external benchmark for faculty compensation.” However, according to the AAUP, EMU is the 13th-lowest paying religiously affiliated institution in the country.
The handbook also states that EMU aims for “a smaller compensation differential between entry-level and senior faculty than might be the case with some of our peer institutions.” This is true — when you look at the lowest-paid category of full-time faculty, “instructors,” EMU fares slightly better than before: it only ranks 12th-lowest in its AAUP class, and fourth-lowest in its CBC class. The average instructor at EMU makes $48,500 a year and must hold at least a master’s degree in their discipline.
While the base pay salary rate for faculty was unavailable online, and the Office of the Provost declined to provide it for this article, the guidelines for how salaries are determined could be found in the employee handbook. Faculty receive a starting pay rate based on their category, with category one making up most faculty, category two including faculty “where market factors and external equity pressures make recruitment and retention more difficult,” and category three including “exceptional cases across all departments.” As the category number increases, so does base pay.
Pay increases occur in steps, with one being given every three years, up to four steps total, and up to ten being given at the discretion of the dean, department head, and provost. The Office of the Provost declined to comment on how often and why discretionary steps are given.
In the Rockingham County School District for the 2025-2026 school year, the base pay for a teacher with zero years of experience was $54,773 — $6,000 more than the average “instructor” at EMU makes. That number increases with education beyond a bachelor’s degree and goes up yearly.
According to EMU’s most recently available online 990 tax form, from fiscal year 2024, the president received $221,213 in compensation, and three vice-presidents received more than $100,000.
The employee handbook also states that the goal of EMU’s salary guidelines is to “provide an adequate standard of living at entry-level, with appropriate salary increases over time for experience, rank, and expertise.” This may or may not be true in some cases — but definitely not in all.
When asked, Dr. Kevin Seidel, Professor of English, Director of the Language and Literature Program, and Co-President of the faculty senate, said over email that “the salary I earn now in 2026 as a full professor after 18 years of working at EMU has not kept up with inflation for what I made as a new ‘Assistant’ professor at EMU … in 2008. In effect, my salary has steadily gone down over the years of my work at EMU.”
In person, Seidel was quick to mention, though, that the low faculty pay was part of a broader issue with money at EMU — not the result of any malicious intent. Speaking on what the school’s administration has to deal with, he said, “It’s an awkward position to be in, when there’s not enough money to go around …. There’s no clear solution for it.”
Instead of immediate change, Seidel said, he wants to see effort being put into future fixes. “I think the most frustrating thing for me as a faculty member is that I’ve never heard from university admin or the board of trustees any kind of plan for raising employee salaries over time,” he said. “We talk about raising money for students, for facilities — both of which are hugely important, but leaders avoid talking about pay … I know the faculty senate asked the Board of Trustees this past fall to work with our university leaders to come up with such a plan, but the Board of Trustees never responded to that faculty senate request.”
“People will say it’s unfair to raise faculty salaries if you’re not going to raise salaries across the board, which I think is true,” he reflected. “But also, that still points to the fact that there’s no plan. It just pits one group of employees against another.”
Claire Hurst, a junior at EMU, shared that the conversation around faculty pay is not one that is only happening among faculty members. “Just in conversations with other students, [pay is] definitely something that’s come up … I feel like it’s just kind of generally known among the student population that faculty are underpaid at EMU,” she said.
“I still feel like I’m getting a lot of knowledge from my professors, but I do feel like it’s something that I’m concerned about for the institution and for our profs,” Hurst shared. “I know they work really hard and deserve good pay.”
Maria Longenecker, a senior and co-president of the Student Government Association, reflected on the difficult situation that EMU faces. “I think the tension everyone who is pushing for any positive change at EMU is feeling is that you come up against these walls of the limited resources we have right now,” she said. “Knowing how to continue to meaningfully push for the things we want to change, while EMU figures out how to make EMU something that can continue more broadly, is hard.”
Even though faculty are willing to work for little pay, Longenecker said, it isn’t necessarily good to continue to pay them little. “We have really quality professors, and they’re here for reasons other than the money … I don’t think the way we affirm professors for being here … is by continuing to have a really low salary.”
Despite the current struggles, Longenecker showed hope for the future, saying, “I have a lot of trust for the people who are leading EMU right now …. The EMU administration that is present here on campus certainly wouldn’t want [these low salaries].”
While small colleges and universities across the country are struggling, low pay at EMU is nothing new, according to Seidel. “When I first started here, I had faculty tell me that back in the day, teaching at EMU was like a ministry. You would work during the summer as an electrician or something to make enough money to support you while you were teaching.”
Seidel recently accepted a job offer as lead pastor at Portland Mennonite Church, in Portland, Oregon, where he will be moving this summer. There, in his first year as a pastor, he will make slightly more than he does at EMU. Plus, his salary is set to increase yearly.
