Skyrocketing college tuitions and trillion-dollar student loan debt have put college and university spending in the spotlight. "Labor Intensive or Labor Expensive? Changing Staffing and Compensation Patterns in Higher Education," a report by the Delta Cost Project at AIR, finds that colleges and universities increasingly rely on part-time faculty to meet instructional demands and rein in costs, but rising benefit costs and increased hiring for other types of positions have undercut those savings.

Colleges and universities are relying heavily on contingent faculty to increase flexibility and reduce costs. These resources explore this trend to determine where contingent faculty are most often hired and savings actually result in lower overall costs.