# California community college profs rake in up to $800K a year teaching dozens of online classes at once

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/california-community-college-profs-rake-in-up-to-800k-a-year-teaching-dozens-of-online-classes-at-once/
- Published: 2026-11-13T02:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-13T02:23:45+00:00
- Original publisher: New York Post (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://nypost.com/2026/11/12/us-news/some-california-professors-make-800k-teaching-online-classes/
- Topics: World

## Key points

- California has no system to track instructors’ combined course loads across districts.
- One professor earned nearly $800,000 in 2024.
- Some instructors say online teaching expands access to specialist subjects.

## Summary

A CalMatters investigation found that some California college instructors teach across numerous campuses, often using online courses and pre-recorded lectures, and can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. The findings highlight a lack of statewide rules or systems for tracking instructors’ combined workloads across independently governed college districts.

More than 70 instructors taught at five or more California districts or university campuses in 2024; one was listed across nine districts and at least 69 course sections. Sociology professor Thien-Huong Ninh Villarreal earned nearly $800,000 that year and is teaching about 30 classes to more than 1,100 students this autumn. Astronomy instructor Andrew Vanden Heuvel reported $758,485 in 2024, including about $320,000 from California colleges; he defended his teaching and said online courses can serve students where astronomy instructors are scarce.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.