text: You are paid $2,000 to $4,000 per course which are rated at about 6 hours of work per week including classsroom hours, office hours and grading. The real time can be higher if preparing slides for a new course and if you commute to multiple schools. For a 15-20 week course this about $18 to $40 an hour.
  Most schools limit instructors to less than 20 booked hours per week in order to avoid paying benefits like health insurance and sick days. So the trick is getting enough courses over a year to make a living wage. Five courses per semester is pushing it, giving the instructor $20K to $40K a year, of which you pay your benefits. And you may have to spread these courses over 2 or 3 schools due to the part time rules. If you are lucky you might get a MWF set one place and TuTh elsewhere. Or a daytime/ evening split. The name of the game is hustle, hustle, hustle.