SALARIES AND THE COST OF LIVING

IN MASSACHUSETTS

Massachusetts, and the Boston-Cambridge area in particular, are known for their extremely high cost of living.

Our studies show that the state college faculty and librarian salaries require an immediate 15-20% increase to bring them to the midpoint of salaries of faculty and librarians in the large industrial states. This is thanks in part to a mindset among many policy-makers who revere private colleges while devaluing public colleges. Even today, when Massachusetts is enjoying unparalleled prosperity and the state's coffers are overflowing, the powers-that-be have agreed to raises for state college faculty and librarians of only 3% in each of the last two fiscal years. (It is important to note that it is illegal for public employees to strike in Massachusetts.)

Anyone applying for a faculty or librarian position at a Massachusetts State College should consider the expense of living in this state. One way to do this is to check www.bankrate.com/brm/movecalc.asp to see approximately how your current salary compares to the cost of living in any of the four areas in Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts listings in that website are:

Boston - closest state colleges are those on the eastern side of the state: Massachusetts College of Art (located in Boston), Salem State College, Bridgewater State College, and Massachusetts Maritime Academy (located in Buzzards Bay).

Fitchburg-Leominster - the location of Fitchburg State College, and close to Worcester State College.

Framingham - the location of Framingham State College.

Springfield - closest state colleges are those in the western part of the state: Westfield State College and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.