How some California professors exploit a ‘loophole’ to rake in nearly $800,000 a year - out-earning administrators and even the system’s chancellor

Some professors at the California community college have found a lucrative way to game the system and cash in hundreds of thousands of dollars. An investigation by CalMatters has revealed how at least 70 part-time professors were paid by five or more community college districts, California State University or University of California campuses in the same year.

Several adjuncts taught more than 10 classes for a single semester, and some earned nearly $80,000 annually while taking teaching gigs in dozens of online classes across multiple schools.

Thien-Huong Ninh Villarreal, who had at least two tenured, full-time community college positions alongside recurring part-time teaching jobs at UC Berkeley, Cal State Sacramento, and seven other community colleges, was one of the biggest earners. In 2024, she netted nearly $800,000 according to public payroll records analyzed by CalMatters.


This year too, she had a similar workload of teaching 30 sociology, ethnic studies, and business classes to around 1,100 students.

Outrageous it may sound, none of these professors, some of whom make more than every community college administrator or the chancellor of the state’s community college system, are breaking any rules.

The funny part is, “there are no rules that prevent community college adjuncts from teaching at more than one district,” CalMatters wrote in their investigation.

Since the Covid 19 pandemic, online education has made it easier for instructors to manage multiple classes across different campuses without physically traveling between them. Many rely on asynchronous teaching, in which lectures are pre-recorded, and students can access the material at their convenience.

Andrew Vanden Heuvel, an adjunct astronomy professor, told the nonprofit newsroom that he teaches around 50 online classes and laboratories to as many as 1,000 students across the country from his garage.

The course mostly includes basic information on stars, galaxies and the solar system. Students watch videos, complete online tasks, play astronomical simulations and complete assignments.

Most of the marking required was very minimal and didn't need much human intervention. “I’m not grading anything (by hand),” he told CalMatters.

He was paid around $320,000 by California schools in 2024. His total income across the country adds up to over $758,485.12.

“In California, I can get paid as much as eight times as much as I can in Florida,” he remarked to the outlet.

This is a problem not only with the adjuncts but also with some full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members.

There is no centralized system to track how many classes an instructor teaches across institutions, and California's 73 community college districts operate independently. The more centralized University of California and California State University systems do track faculty workloads; however, they might not be aware that their professors are also teaching.

In addition to teaching his classes at Evergreen Valley College, Bobby Seals is also teaching 14 classes at four community college districts and San Jose State. In total, he has approximately 930 students this semester.

Faramarz Mortezaie, the computer science department chair at Mission College, is also teaching 11 classes at other campuses, including San Jose State.

“Obviously no one has enough time in a week to teach 30 classes and do a good job, so that's very problematic,” Sarah Thompson, president of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges, told CalMatters.

Jim Mahler from the California Federation of Teachers suspects some professors might simply record lectures and “just hitting play.”

K. Frindell, president of the California Community College Independents, feels the flawed arrangement was created when the district wanted to cut costs by hiring adjuncts who wanted additional income. In this way, “a loophole has been created,” she said.