I joined the MLA this year for their health insurance benefit, but they just act like a broker, and I can be denied. The NCTE only has life insurance.

I'm definitely getting my taxes done this year. I think I should be able to get a pretty hefty refund.

One of the huge problems in higher education today is the adjunct system. Schools save money by staffing their classes with part-timers who don't get prorated pay and who don't get benefits. The adjunct to full-time ratio at the school that's not the one that nekosensei teaches at as well is 20:1. It's only been about five years or so that adjuncts at state schools were legally allowed to unionize. Since that time, we've negotiated much better pay. (When I started in 2000, I got $1200 per class. I now get about $2500.) And we get "benefits." Actually, at one school, I only get two benefits--the crappy health insurance, which is a different plan than the full-timers have (the reason it's so bad is that the program is designed as supplemental insurance for people on Medicare), and one free class if there's space a week before the term begins. At the other school, I only get one benefit--$320 per year in professional development. If the schools actually started giving us decent benefits, then that would negate the advantage they get of using adjuncts. Oh, I forgot, I get one sick day per semester. After that, my paycheck gets docked. That's new, too. We used to get docked upon our first absence.

Truthfully, I'm at the point in my career where I might be able to get a full-time position, but I don't want one. The last thing I want to do is teach for the rest of my life.