Oakton Community College to Reduce Adjunct Faculty Hours

Oakton Community College is cutting back on the number of hours given to adjunct faculty to avoid the expense of providing them with health care, the Daily Herald reports.

Under the Affordable Care Act, employers with at least 50 full-time equivalent employees will be required to offer health care to those who work 31 hours or more per week in 2014. At Oakton, adjuncts are being assigned no more than 21 “learning hour equivalents” in 2013, the newspaper reports, to make sure they won’t be listed as full-time employees by the IRS.

Cutting back on adjunct faculty hours isn’t the only way Oakton is trying to make ends meet. Trustees are also considering a tuition increase and will vote on the subject later this spring.