Faculty Load & Compensation

Enrollment Policy for Compensation

Under-Enrollment:

Load hours may be pro-rated for a course if enrollment does not meet minimum thresholds for a course. 

• Online courses at all levels: at least 10 students as of Day 15 of each sub-term
• Residential undergraduate and graduate courses: at least 10 students as of Day 8 of each sub-term
• Residential doctorate courses: at least 8 students as of Day 8 of each sub-term

Please review the LUO Under-Enrollment Matrix (PDF) for each degree level. Residential courses are similarly pro-rated. 

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.
• Residential courses may receive an additional load hour if they meet the following enrollment thresholds:
  • 100 level courses: 300 students 
  • 200-400 level courses: 100 students

Rolled Course Stipend

Any online 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.

Verification Information

The purpose of pay verification is to provide an opportunity for faculty to review and verify the courses they are teaching and the associated pay. Verification should be completed each sub-term to ensure the timely processing of faculty compensation. Teaching faculty will receive a pay verification email notification on Thursday of week three of each sub-term in which they are teaching. 

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

The pay verification process enables faculty to:

• Review the courses being taught, load hours, SME status, and compensation.  
• Add a flag if there are 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.

Please note that dissertation writing and defense courses paid by lump-sum stipend as listed on the Compensation Calendar will be available to verify during the D sub-term pay verification dates each semester.

Please refer to the 2024-2025 Faculty Compensation Calendar (PDF) to view all pertinent dates for this academic year. 

Standard Load Hours

Standard load for a 3-credit-hour course:

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

See the Enrollment Policy for Compensation Policy for under-enrollment and over-enrollment considerations.

Contract Salary and Tracking

• Salary compensation is received on the 15th and the last day of each month or preceding business day. 
• Once the faculty contract hours have been fulfilled, faculty members will receive overload compensation for any additional load hours taught.
• Overload compensation is calculated on the base rate only. SME compensation for online courses is calculated based on load hours for the course, may be pro-rated, and is not contingent on overload hours.
• Load hours and associated compensation will be pro-rated if a course does not meet minimum thresholds. Please see the Enrollment Policy for Compensation Policy section for more details. 

Contract Tracking – Overload

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

Residential contracts only count courses with a face-to-face component as contract load-bearing. Online contracts only count online courses as contract load-bearing, unless otherwise approved by the Provost. 

• Overload compensation received at the end of the fall semester is based on the number of hours exceeding 50% of the contract. Load hours paid as overload compensation are not applied toward fulfilling the remainder of the contract load requirement. *
• If teaching in the fall semester does not exceed 50% of the contract load, no overload compensation will be received until the contract has been completely fulfilled.
• Load hours and associated compensation will be pro-rated if a course is under-enrolled with less than 10 students on day 15 of the sub-term. Please see the Enrollment Policy for Compensation Policy section for more details.

Please note: While the 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 the new contract compensation begins in July, any courses taught during the summer semester are applied to the previous year’s contract.

24 Hour Contract Example:

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

Example: John Doe teaches 15 load hours in the fall and 18 load hours in the spring.

Professor Doe will receive overload compensation for 3 load hours in the fall (15 load hours taught minus 12 load hours for 50% of contract load (applied toward contract) = 3 overload hours) and 6 load hours in the spring (18 load hours taught minus 12 load hours for remaining 50% of contract load (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.

LUO Subject Matter Expert (SME) Compensation

SME compensation can be received a maximum of two times per sub-term for two unique courses (not two sections of the same course) and is not available during the C term. School administration is responsible for updating SME information in the Faculty Appointment Manager prior to the start of the sub term.

SME compensation is not affected by contract load fulfillment and is issued based on the load hours of the course.

• The same course (i.e. BUSI 101) can earn SME compensation only once during B term and only once during D term.
  • Example: If Professor Sparky is the SME for ACCT 301 B01 and B02 in the B sub-term, he will only receive the SME compensation for one section (either B01 or B02) during that sub-term.
• SME for two unique courses can earn the SME compensation for BOTH courses during B and BOTH courses during D sub-terms.
  • Example: If Professor Sparky is the SME for ACCT 301 B01 and BUSI 301 B01 in the B sub-term, he will receive the SME compensation for both courses during the sub-term.
• SME for three or more unique courses would receive the SME compensation for only two of the courses during B and two of the courses during the D sub-term.
  • Example: If Professor Sparky is the SME for ACCT 301 B01, BUSI 301 B01, and BUSI 302 B01, he will receive the SME compensation for the two highest-paying courses during that sub-term.

SME compensation will be pro-rated if an LUO course is under-enrolled with less than 10 students as of day 15 of the sub-term.