4.2 Annual Salary Plan

Full-time faculty members are paid through the MIT Annual Salary Plan. Senior research scientists/engineers/associates and other academic instructional staff who hold salaried appointments may be included in the plan at the discretion of the department and the school. Following are the major features of the Annual Salary Plan:

1. All members of the Faculty will normally fulfill their academic responsibilities during the fall and spring terms, from September 1 through May 31, including participation in the Independent Activities Period (IAP) in January. In particular, the one-month IAP is a part of the regular nine-month academic year during which academic staff members carry on teaching, research, and other duties as part of their normal annual obligations. One exception to this rule is Athletics Department faculty, who may begin their academic year in August.
2. Salary payments under the Annual Salary Plan are made semimonthly throughout the fiscal year, although the individual's academic responsibilities are normally discharged during the nine-month academic year as stated above.
3. The use of the Annual Salary Plan creates a variance between the salary payments made to the faculty member and the salary earned through service. The result is that if a faculty member wishes to resign just before the start of the first term, the appointment is considered void and the individual will be obliged to return to the Institute the payments of the annual base salary received for July and August. Further, if a faculty member wishes to resign as of the end of the first term (January 15), there will be no payments for the month of January because payment will have been made for one-half of the annual base salary as of December 31. If the faculty member wishes to leave on December 31, one-half of one month's pay at the charging rate (one-ninth the individual's annual salary) must be returned to the Institute. If the faculty member wishes to leave as of May 31, the salary continues through June 30.
4. Faculty appointments are made with the understanding that, whenever needs of the academic department require teaching or research duties during the summer months, the faculty member may be paid for up to two months' effort for this service at a monthly rate of pay equal to the individual's annual salary divided by nine. On occasion, when teaching in departmental programs is required during the summer, participating faculty members may be offered relief from teaching during the regular academic year in place of additional salary.
5. Faculty members may receive supplemental compensation for teaching, program directing, program development and curriculum development in connection with executive/professional education programs and other special activities and programs that have been approved for supplemental compensation by the relevant academic dean and the Provost. The MIT Compensation Guidelines for Special Activities and Programs can be accessed by MIT faculty and certain administrators (verified through login of their email address and MIT certificate). For questions about access, please contact facultyconciergehelp@mit.edu.