<p>If the OP figures are accurate(that only 23% of their instructional hours were taught by tenure track faculty), then the students are definitely getting short changed regardless of the tuition being charged. However the statement, “it was possible for someone to get a degree without ever having a class taught by a tenure-track person” seems to lack credibility. But that is only my opinion.</p>
<p>Re the use of TA’s, the lecture/tutorial or recitation model of instruction is one that has been used for many years at the “best” universities with great success. Certainly there are great TA’s and horrible TA’s, but that is true for tenured faculty too.</p>
<p>I was talking to a friend whose son who chose a LAC because he wanted all his class contact time to be with a tenured faculty member. However he failed to consider the downside of this matter. At most LAC’s the faculty resources of any one department can be quite small. It is not unusual to have science departments with only 3 or 4 faculty. Most are excellent teachers because tenure depend on this, they are not held to the “publish or perish” standard. However small departments result in a very limited number of course electives, particularly in upper level courses. It is not unusual for courses to be offered on alternating years which can be problematical if a scheduling conflict crops up. Sabbaticals can adversely impact a small department. Because teaching loads are far greater, the opportunity to participate in research is far less. And faculty become generalists because they must often teach courses outside there specific area of expertise, a particular issue in upper level courses. As a rule, I believe that LAC’s offer better instruction frosh and soph years while universities offer superior instruction junior and senior years. By that time classes are likely to be relatively small and the instructor will have far more academic expertise in the subject matter. Plus the elective offerings will be far greater.</p>
<p>Re TA’s(I got off topic), PhD students should be amply qualified to staff lab and recitation sections. And keep in mind that it may be possible for your S or D to finance their grad school because of the availability of TA’s. And while those TA’s are teaching 15 Calc 1 recitation sections, the lecture prof is not watching Oprah. He/she may be advising students, preparing research proposals, conducting research(sometimes with undergrad assistance), scheduling office hours, working in research groups, peer reviewing journal articles, attending conferences with colleagues around the world, working as a consultant in the private sector, revising syllabi, etc. These activities will benefit the students in the classroom far more that observing lab sessions or answering student questions in a recitation section that a TA is also capable of handling. </p>
<p>At the university my son attends many intro science and engineering classes are taught using the “studio” concept, teaming a tenured faculty member and a TA in the classroom together. The professor handles the lecture during the first hour of the session, while the prof and TA work together during the second hour of lab and recitation. The classes are a bit larger(30-48 students) but they work in 3 person teams and there are 2 instructors in the classroom during the session. There is an optional course wide Q&A(at least for the Physics 1&2 studios) for students who need additional assistance. Its a different concept which my son thinks is fairly good, though he is fine with his lecture/recitation courses too.</p>