“I grew up a beneficiary of the American dream. My grandfather in India worked two jobs, and despite the family’s poverty, got my father through medical school. My parents, both doctors, came to the United States with three children and $8 in their pockets. They completed their medical training, found jobs and saved well. As a result, they gave us each a college education and a lesson: study hard, work hard and you can do better for the next generation — the American dream.

Even though I am a highly educated professor at a prestigious university who receives excellent evaluations, and even though I’ve published two critically acclaimed books (which matters in the publish-or-perish culture), I am finding that dream increasingly distant. I worry constantly about how to meet the ever-increasing cost of college for my own children.

Why? Because I’m an adjunct professor. And I’m not alone.”