by our College Data Analytics TeamTake a look at the classes and faculty information below to get a feel for student life at Penn State Altoona.
On this page you’ll find:
Student to faculty ratio is a common metric used to gauge the number of teaching resources a school provides for its students. With 12 students for every one instructional faculty member, Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona ranks among the best colleges when compared to the national average of 15.
The following table shows all the employees the school considers instructional, and therefore, part of the above student-to-faculty ratio. These include both those employees designated as either “primarily instructional” or as “instructional combined with research/public service”. It does not include employees that have been identified by Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona as primarily performing research or public service.
| Total | Full Time | Part Time | Percent Full Time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total of Instructional Employees | 204 | 152 | 52 | 75% |
| Total of Those With Faculty Status | 201 | 152 | 49 | 76% |
| Tenured Faculty | 61 | 61 | - | 100% |
| On Tenure Track | 12 | 12 | - | 100% |
| Not on Tenure Track | 128 | 79 | 49 | 62% |
| Without Faculty Status | 3 | - | 3 | - |
At Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona, 75% of instructors are employed full time, which ranks among the highest in the nation.
At Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona, only 25% of the teaching staff are part-time non-faculty or non-tenure track faculty. This use of adjuncts is far below the national average of 51.4%, which could be indicative of Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona's commitment to building a strong, long-term instructional team.
Colleges often use part-time professors and adjuncts to teach courses, rather than full-time faculty. This hiring practice is primarily a way to save money amid increasingly tight budgets. However, it is a controversial practice with strong views on either side. We encourage you to understand this topic more deeply, and how the colleges you are interested in approach faculty hiring.
