The current economy is experiencing serious tremors, and, if you have the necessary academic credentials, it is entirely possible for extra income from online teaching to keep you from falling behind on your bills. If you have a Master degree in math or psychology, teaching just one online class every six to eight weeks could earn you over $300.00 per week. If you have a Ph.D. in one of the core humanities such as English or History, you could earn over $800.00 per week by teaching three online classes. Someone who chooses to pursue multiple online classes at several schools and teach online full time could easily earn $1,250.00 or more per week.



Rising prices and growing unemployment are a fact of life now, and there is every reason to believe that both will continue in the near future as a result of what is being called the credit crisis. It goes without saying that in this economic climate almost everyone could use an extra thousand dollars or more every month. If you possess at least eighteen graduate hours in a specific academic discipline, or, better yet, a Master degree or Ph.D., then you can teach one or more online classes and earn a very healthy supplemental income.

Since distance education is growing in popularity with both the student population and college faculty, the number of available courses taught exclusively online is increasing almost daily. Historically, student populations at technical colleges, community colleges and four-year universities rise significantly during times of economic hardships. While teaching online is not a get rich quick scheme, it can certainly provide a substantial supplementary income for those who land an online faculty position.

Online Faculty Position

Advances in technology and a growing interest in the pedagogy of distance learning on the part of the professoriate make online teaching a natural economic boon for educational institutions. The simple fact of the matter is that all of the new online classes must be taught by qualified instructors, which is how 18 graduate hours, a Master degree or a doctorate is beneficial to both the institution and the teacher seeking to earn income from online teaching. Without an academically qualified faculty, a college or university is not permitted to accept federal financial aid on behalf of its students.

The availability of federal financial aid to pay for tuition and books is tied directly to the accreditation of a given school. The reason it is necessary for an instructor at an institution of higher education to possess certain academic credentials is because of accreditation requirements faced by the schools. In order for a technical school, community college or university, public and private, to accept federal financial aid for its students need tuition assistance, it is necessary to have a faculty populated by teachers holding graduate degrees, or at least 18 graduate hours in a specific area of study. For the vast majority of college students, federal financial aid is just about the only way they can afford to attend school since college tuition commonly increases at twice the rate of inflation.

Thus, colleges and universities actively seek academically qualified instructors to staff their online classes because they need degreed teachers to satisfy the accreditation requirements, and this need increases your chances of landing an online faculty position. It is important, however, to understand the labor model employed by colleges and universities regarding their offering of more and more online classes if you are to benefit financially from online teaching. Online teachers, in the main, are not hired for a steady online faculty position. True, there are a small number of teachers who can obtain a full time online faculty position, and as the number of online classes offered by colleges and universities grows exponentially over the coming years, there will be and increasing need for qualified teachers to accept the responsibility of an online faculty position. However, the reason for the creation of a full time online faculty position is administrative in nature, not educational or academic. By far, the largest number of opportunities for academically qualified individuals is in the area of online adjunct faculty positions.

Online Adjunct Faculty Positions

Online adjunct faculty positions are by far the most available positions for online teachers. A school can hire one person for a full time faculty position and require that person to manage ten to fifteen online adjuncts. This knowledge can actually increase your ability to earn income from online teaching by causing you to apply to more and more colleges and universities for online classes. In a very distinct way, you can easily decide which schools pay more for your online teaching efforts and academic credentials. In this way, you, the online teacher, become a sort of free academic agent with the option of working for the better paying schools. In addition, as a free academic agent, you have the ability to maximize your time in the online classroom because you possess the academic market knowledge that allows you to pick only the most cost effective situations for yourself. It is not always just about the gross amount of money you are being paid to teach an online class; often it is more cost effective to teach online classes that use the same instructional interface since you will not have to spend any significant amount of your own time learning how to navigate the schools' online system.

To say that it is possible to put a thousand or two thousand extra dollar in you budget every month through online teaching is an understatement. If you possess or will soon possess the necessary academic credentials required by an online college or university faculty, and you take the time to learn and apply the knowledge of the emerging online academic markets, you can certainly increase your personal income to the point that you can beat a recession with extra income from online teaching.