Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon Portland Community College

Part-Time Faculty Eligibility Requirements and SB 551 information

Part-Time Faculty benefits eligibility is based on instructional full time equivalency (FTE). Each year during summer term, the College looks back at the previous academic year to determine eligibility. The total instructional FTE for the academic year (four terms) must be at least 1.5 FTE. Schedules and loads may vary from one term to another, but Part-Time Faculty members who meet eligibility requirements will be eligible for benefits the following academic year, provided they are scheduled to teach. The benefit year runs from October 1st through September 30th.

If you are eligible for Part-Time Faculty benefits, you will receive an Open Enrollment mailing in early August. You must complete online enrollment in MyOEBB. If you are unsure of your FTE, please check with your department.

In addition to qualifying for health insurance benefits under the PCC Faculty and Academic Professional collective bargaining agreement, part-time faculty may qualify for a medical insurance subsidy under SB 551.

In the 2021 legislative session, Oregon Senate Bill 551 was passed to expand healthcare to part-time faculty. Eligible part-time faculty can purchase individual medical benefits with a 90% subsidy. If you qualify for SB 551 and cover yourself only on Kaiser Medical Plan 1 or any Moda Medical Plan (2, 3 or 6), you can get a higher contribution toward your medical premiums if you complete and submit the enclosed Part-time Faculty Declaration of Home Institution and Attestation of Eligibility for Benefits Coverage to sb551ptfaculty@pcc.edu. See cost tables below and calculators on the next page for more detail.

To be eligible you must:

  1. Be actively working for PCC in the term for which you are applying; and
  2. Designate PCC as your home institution on the Part-Time Faculty Declaration of Home Institution and Attestation of Eligibility form (enclosed) by September 15, 2022, and
  3. Have worked an average equal to at least half of a full-time equivalent faculty employee over the 2021-2022 academic year at one or more Oregon higher education institutions, cumulatively. (For Fall 2022, the terms considered are Summer 2022, Spring 2022, Winter 2022, and Fall 2021.)

In some cases, the Cap provided under the PCC collective bargaining agreement will be more beneficial, but often the SB 551 subsidy will be more beneficial.  See the Part-time Faculty Cost Sheet for more detail. Submit the Part-time Faculty Declaration of Home Institution and Attestation of Eligibility for Benefits Coverage to sb551ptfaculty@pcc.edu by September 15 if you believe you are eligible for the SB 551 subsidy.

Payment Instructions

If you enroll in benefits as a Part-Time Faculty member, the employee portion of your premiums will be deducted from your bi-weekly paychecks before taxes. Some pay periods you may not get paid, because of a break between terms or not working an entire term. See Part-Time Faculty Payment Instructions for an explanation of what you need to do to keep your insurance if you are in unpaid status.

View the Summary of Benefits for Part-time Faculty.