The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) reported that average salaries for full-time faculty fell 0.4% in real terms between fall 2024 and fall 2025, marking the first real-dollar decline in three years. The AAUP survey covers 360,000 full-time and more than 125,000 part-time faculty members across over 780 institutions. Continuing faculty saw an average real increase of 0.7%, but the sector headline remains that real-dollar compensation has not recovered fully from a cumulative 7.5% drop during 2019–2022. The survey also found variation in part-time pay per course and that a substantial share of institutions do not provide retirement or health insurance benefits to part-time faculty. For university leaders and faculty governance bodies, the report sharpens workforce planning needs and may intensify pressure for compensation strategies that account for inflation rather than nominal increases.