The following key considerations lay a foundation for UO proposals, including salary:
- We are fully committed to an outcome that positions UO faculty and the university for long-term success. Our core principles to advance university strategic goals, ensure operational flexibility, offer competitive total compensation, and maintain responsible financial stewardship guide our negotiations during this bargaining cycle. During this process, we must ensure that we are managing the institution’s long-term financial sustainability.
- When comparing the university to the Association of American Universities (AAU) peer compensation data, it is important to recognize that we do not have the same financial resources as those institutions. Specifically, in FY2022 (the last year comparative data was available) the UO received $86.4 million from the state whereas the average state appropriation for AAU peer institutions was $416.2 million. This means that the UO only had $3,863 of state support per student FTE, while the average AAU peer figure was $10,410. This difference equates to roughly $146.5 million per year of annual recurring state funding after adjusting for differences in enrollment size. The UO salary offer seeks to balance investment in faculty compensation with the realities of the university's financial position, which is described in detail in the UO Salary Offer and AAU Comparators section below.
- In line with our core principle of competitive total compensation, UO administration is working to support faculty salary increases through this negotiation process. While salary is the largest part of total compensation, the university's retirement contributions and health insurance are important components, and they must be considered in any compensation comparison between the UO and our peer institutions.
Offer Comparison
Annual Increases
| Effective Date | UO Offer (as of August 13) | UA Proposal (as of September 26) |
|---|---|---|
| Jan. 1, 2025 | 3% across the board for career and tenure-track and tenured classifications 2% increase for faculty in pro tem, visiting, and retired classifications who held an appointment in the preceding academic or fiscal year | 8.5% across-the-board increase |
| Jan. 1, 2026 | 3% merit pool for career and tenure-track and tenured classifications 2% increase for faculty in pro tem, visiting, and retired classifications who held an appointment in the preceding academic or fiscal year | 3.62% across-the-board increase 2.44% pool for external equity 2.44% pool for internal equity Unused equity pool distributed across the board. |
| Jan. 1, 2027 | 3% merit pool for career and tenure-track and tenured classifications 2% increase for faculty in pro tem, visiting, and retired classifications who held an appointment in the preceding academic or fiscal year | 3.4% across-the-board increase 5.1% unit-based merit pool |
Salary Floor Increases
| Effective Date | UO Offer (as of March 14) | UA Proposal (as of April 18) |
|---|---|---|
| July 1, 2025 | 3% to all floors | 30% to instructional pro tem floor 20% to all other salary floors |
Review-Related Increases
| Review type | UO Offer (as of October 31) | UA Proposal (as of April 18) |
|---|---|---|
| Promotion | 8% | 10% |
| Sixth-Year Post-Tenure Review | 7.1% meets expectations | 6% meets expectations 10% exceeds |
| Career Continuous Employment Review | 7.1% meets expectations | 6% meets expectations 10% exceeds |
UO Salary Offer and AAU Comparators
Total Compensation
Recognizing the university’s interest in attracting and retaining excellent faculty and United Academic’s interest in benchmarking faculty salary at the UO with the AAU averages, we have taken time to better understand how the university compares when factoring in cost of living and salary withholding for retirement and health care.
This analysis shows that, when adjusted for retirement contributions, payroll deductions for health insurance, and cost of living, UO faculty total compensation is at 98.3 percent of the average of our AAU public peers. Key findings of the analysis include:
- Higher institutional retirement contributions at UO compared to our peers reduce the amount employees need to withhold from their pay to accumulate retirement savings.
- UO faculty members continue to pay significantly less for health insurance coverage than their AAU public peers.
- The cost of living in Eugene is lower than average at our AAU public peers.
Retirement Savings Comparison
Higher institutional retirement contributions at UO compared to our peers reduce the amount employees need to withhold from their pay to accumulate retirement savings.
Percent of salary withheld from pay to achieve a 16 percent of salary contribution to 403B retirement plan:
- UO = 4%
- Average at AAU peers = 7.56%
The value of employer contribution to UO retirement benefits continues to be higher than at most of our peer institutions. In comparing defined contribution plans (Optional Retirement Plan at UO), the maximum employer contribution to a new faculty member’s retirement plan at the UO is 12 percent while the average maximum employer contribution of our AAU public peers is 8.4 percent. This means that an employee at UO needs to deduct an average of about 3.6 percent less from their salary to establish the same level of retirement savings as an employee at a peer institution. PERS, the defined benefit pension plan available to faculty, represents an even larger compensation investment, but due to the difficulty of comparing pension benefits across institutions we have not included a comparative analysis of the value of PERS.
Health Insurance Comparison
UO faculty members continue to pay less for health insurance than their AAU public peers.
Average percent of salary withheld for health insurance:
- At the University of Oregon (TTF and Career Faculty) = 1.28%
- At average AAU public peer university = 6.19%
UO withholds 5 percent of a faculty member’s health insurance premiums from their salary regardless of which health plan and category of coverage a faculty member chooses. Our AAU public peers withhold an average of 19 to 25 percent of premiums from their faculty members’ salary depending on coverage category. This difference has a significant monetary impact on take-home pay comparisons. Taking into consideration both career and tenure-track faculty, the UO withholds on average 4.9 percent less of salary for health care benefits than our AAU public peers. It is important to note that the quality of health insurance is considered comparable, so faculty members at the UO are incurring less expense for comparable coverage when compared to their AAU peers, and the university is investing more financially in this benefit than other institutions.
Cost of Living Comparison
Cost of living in Eugene is lower than average at our AAU public peers.
It is important to adjust any comparative compensation packages for local cost of living conditions. When we were negotiating with the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federations earlier this year, we used the MIT dataset that the GTFF identified for this purpose. Our calculations at the time placed Eugene at 92.5 percent of AAU peer regions. That dataset includes calculations customized by family type. Given that more of our faculty are in larger family groups than the GEs, we recalculated the cost of living comparisons for this analysis at 95.1 percent of peer regions.
As university administration considers salary increases in the next collective bargaining agreement (CBA), we take into consideration the health insurance and retirement comparators, as well as cost of living, so that total compensation is used to benchmark faculty earnings when compared to our AAU public peers. This analysis indicates that the UO is currently at 98.3 percent of total compensation for faculty compared to our AAU public peers.
| Comparable Adjustment Factor to AAU Public Peer Institutions | Adjustment Factor | Percentage of AAU Peers after Adjustment by Factor |
| Starting point: Current UO TTF salaries (fall 2022 data). |
| 85.7% |
| Health insurance: UO withholds 4.9% less from faculty paychecks than the average of AAU public peers. | Divide by 0.964 | 90.1% |
| Retirement savings: Withholding from salary is higher for AAU peer faculty by 3.6% to obtain the same contribution to a defined contribution retirement plan. | Divide by 0.951 | 93.5% |
| Cost of living: Based on MIT cost of living data, the cost of living for faculty at UO is approximately 95.1% of what it is at our AAU public peers. | Divide by 0.951 | 98.3% |
Financial Resources
We take pride in being in the Association of American Universities (AAU); however, it is important to note distinct differences exist between the financial position of our institution and that of the other members.
The UO’s financial position is not nearly as strong as that of other AAU institutions: we have far lower than average revenue, receive less state funding, invest significantly more in employee benefits, and have a higher dependency on student enrollment and tuition. The university has a constrained revenue model in a very competitive market. Increases in faculty salary must be planned within the limits of our financial position.
The following data from the Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) outline the UO’s financial factors that must be considered when committing to salary increases:
- The UO receives far less state support each year ($86.4 million) than the average AAU institution ($416.2 million).
- The UO is much smaller than the average AAU institution (22,373 students vs. 40,984 students), which does not afford it the same scale economies related to overhead expenses.
- The UO receives millions of dollars less in revenue annually than the AAU average when looking at both net tuition and fees and state funding on a per-student basis ($4,689 less per student). This equates to $104.9 million less funding per year than the AAU average.
- The UO invests more in employee benefits than any other public AAU institution in the country as measured on a percentage of salary basis. These state-mandated contributions provide valuable benefits to UO employees but also impact the financial structure of the university as 80 percent of our Education and General (E&G) fund budget is invested in compensation and benefits for employees.
- The UO is more reliant on tuition for funding and charges higher undergraduate tuition rates than the AAU public average. The UO relies primarily on tuition revenue for funding (77% of E&G fund). Our current undergraduate tuition rates for resident and non-resident students are already high among AAU public institutions, and we risk pricing ourselves out of this highly competitive market if we increase tuition incautiously. To support all students and ensure affordability for low-income Oregonians, we must carefully consider any tuition rate increases required to balance the budget. Large increases to tuition rates may lead to decreases in enrollment, ultimately decreasing revenue. This year our E&G fund budget is projected to run a $1.5 million dollar deficit. In consideration of all the factors affecting students and our financial position, the Board of Trustees recently approved a 3% tuition rate increase for incoming undergraduate students.