Faculty Load & Compensation

LUO Enrollment Policy

Compensation for LUO courses is based on day 15 enrollment levels for each sub-term and may be adjusted accordingly if the course is under-enrolled or over-enrolled on that date.

• Under-Enrollment:
  • If day 15 enrollment is less than 10 students, contract/load hours and associated compensation will be pro-rated accordingly. Please review the LUO Under-Enrollment Matrix (PDF) for each degree level.
• Over-Enrollment:
  • Over-enrollment compensation for LUO undergraduate courses (100-499) is calculated per student over 25 students enrolled in the course as of day 15 of the sub-term.
  • Over-enrollment compensation for LUO graduate and doctorate courses (500 – 980) is calculated per student over 20 students enrolled in the course as of day 15 of the sub-term.
  • Over-enrollment compensation is not provided for Institute, BUSI 390, BMAL 590, or GRST courses.
  • CLB’s receive over-enrollment compensation regardless of whether or not their contract hours have been met.

Rolled Course Stipend

Any course rolled Wed-Sun of week 0 and does not make as of the first day of class may be eligible for a stipend for course set-up. This stipend may be approved for courses that meet both the following criteria:

• Had all students rolled to other sections Wed-Sun of week 0 resulting in 0 students as of the first day of class – courses rolled prior to Wednesday of week 0 are not compensated as no students had access to the section.
• Faculty completed both tasks, which included posting the initial announcement and updating their faculty information, including making it available to students for that course.

Excluded from LUO Pay Process

The following courses are paid by other methods and may not appear during the pay verification process:

• BUSI 299
• Social Work and Education Gate courses
• Intensive format courses (some exceptions apply to this)
• Courses for administering Qualifying Exams, Competency Exams, or Comprehensive Exams
• Courses taught by Teaching Assistants (TA’s) or Graduate Assistants (GA’s)
• Thesis and Dissertation courses that are paid as lump sum payments*
  • *Some A sub-term dissertation courses paid as a lump sum will be a part of pay verification in the second half of the semester according to the D sub-term verification dates

Verification Information

The purpose of pay verification is to provide an opportunity for you to review and verify the LUO courses you are teaching and the associated pay. Verification should be completed within 48 hours of notification to ensure the timely processing of your compensation.

Online faculty will receive a pay verification email notification in week three of each sub-term in which they are teaching. The pay verification step is mandatory and should be completed within 48 hours of notification.

This step is completed through the Verification Dashboard. This dashboard can be accessed at any time to review your current or previous load and compensation information.

The pay verification process enables you to:

• Review the courses being taught during that sub-term and verify that the subject, course numbers and section numbers are correct.
• Verify that your SME status is correct.
• Note if a different faculty member is teaching the course and provide that name so the correct person receives the compensation.
• Verify that the compensation is accurately reflected.
• Add a flag if you have any questions or comments. Members of the Faculty Load team will research and respond to each flag and faculty members will receive those responses via e-mail.

Some LUO courses are paid by other methods and may not appear on your pay verification. For questions regarding those courses, please refer to the Excluded from LUO Pay information.

Please refer to the 2024-2025 Faculty Compensation Calendar (PDF) to view all pertinent dates for this academic year. If you would like to view the pay dates for previous academic years, refer to the following files:

LUO Load Hours

Standard base pay for typical 3-credit-hour online courses for both Online Contracted faculty and Online Adjunct faculty is based on contract/load hours, as shown below:

• Undergraduate LUO courses (100-499) – 3 contract/load hours
• Graduate LUO courses (500-699) – 4 contract/load hours
• Doctorate LUO courses (700-980) – 5 contract/load hours

The standard matrix for credit: load determination is

• Undergrad LUO – 1:1; capped at 3 contract/load hours
  • For example a 3 credit hour course = 3 load hours
• Graduate LUO – 1:1+1; capped at 4 contract/load hours
  • For example, a 3 credit hour course = 4 load hours
• Doctoral LUO – 1:1+2; capped at 5 contract/load hours
  • For example, a 3 credit hour course = 5 load hours

See the LUO Enrollment Policy for under-enrollment and over-enrollment considerations. Some LUO courses are not handled by the LUO Faculty Load and Compensation team. For questions regarding those courses, please refer to the Excluded from LUO Pay information.

Online Contract Tracking

• Online faculty contracts reflect compensation that includes the base rate for the contract term. Salary compensation is received on the 15th and the last day of each month.
• Once the online faculty contract hours have been fulfilled, online faculty members will receive overload compensation for any LUO courses taught.
• Faculty with an online contract may also be an Instructional Mentor (IM). IM compensation, as applicable, is received on the 15th and the last day of each month as a salary payment.
• Overload compensation is calculated on the base rate only. IM compensation is included in the salaried amount and SME compensation is calculated based on load hours for the course and is not contingent on overload hours.
• Contract/load hours and associated compensation will be pro-rated if an LUO course is under-enrolled with less than 10 students on day 15 of the sub-term. For questions regarding enrollment, please review the LUO Enrollment Policy and the LUO Under-Enrollment Matrix (PDF).

Online Contract Tracking – Overload

In addition to contract salary, online contracted faculty may receive overload compensation if you teach LUO courses in excess of 50% of your contract hours during the fall semester. In the spring semester, courses are again applied toward your contract load until the contract has been fulfilled. Once your online contracted hours have been fulfilled, all subsequent courses will be paid as overload compensation through the end of the academic year. *

• Overload compensation received at the end of the fall semester is based on the number of hours exceeding 50% of your contract. Contract/load hours paid as overload compensation are NOT applied toward fulfilling the remainder of your contract. *
• If you do not teach in excess of 50% of your contract during the fall semester, no overload compensation will be received until the contract has been completely fulfilled.
• Contract/load hours and associated compensation will be pro-rated if an LUO course is under-enrolled with less than 10 students on day 15 of the sub-term. For questions regarding enrollment, please review the LUO Enrollment Policy and the LUO Under-Enrollment Matrix (PDF).

Please note: While the online faculty contract year is July 1st through June 30th (of the following year), the academic year is fall semester through the summer semester. This means that although your new online contract compensation begins in July, any courses taught during the summer semester are applied to your previous year’s online contract.

36 Hour Online Contract Example:

Online contracted faculty must teach more than 18 contract/load hours (50% of your contract hours) in the fall semester to receive overload compensation. Overload compensation will again be paid during the spring semester once the contract has been fulfilled.

Example: John Doe teaches 21 LUO contract/load hours in the fall and 24 LUO contract/load hours in the spring.

Professor Doe will receive overload compensation for 3 contract/load hours in the fall (21 hours taught – 18 hours for 50% of contract (applied toward contract) = 3 overload hours) and 6 contract/load hours in the spring (24 hours taught – 18 hours for remaining 50% of contract (applied toward contract) = 6 overload hours).

24 Hour Online Contract Example:

Online contracted faculty must teach more than 12 contract/load hours (50% of your contract hours) in the fall semester to receive overload compensation. Overload compensation will again be paid during the spring semester once the contract has been fulfilled.

Example: John Doe teaches 20 LUO contract/load hours in the fall and 18 LUO contract/load hours in the spring.

Professor Doe will receive overload compensation for 8 contract/load hours in the fall (20 hours taught – 12 hours for 50% of contract (applied toward contract) = 8 overload hours) and 6 contract/load hours in the spring (18 hours taught – 12 hours for remaining 50% of contract (applied toward contract) = 6 overload hours).

* Up to the point that a faculty member fulfills contracted load, Liberty University reserves the right to pay as overload any course load that is estimated to be in addition to the contracted load that will be completed over the life of the contract (or contract fulfillment period). Likewise, Liberty University reserves the right to require that contracted load be fulfilled prior to treating course load as overload and issuing overload pay.