A CalMatters investigation has found that some California community college instructors are earning far more than the state’s top education officials by teaching dozens of online classes simultaneously, often relying on pre-recorded lectures delivered to students across multiple districts at once.
The outlet identified more than 70 instructors who taught across at least five California community college districts, Cal State campuses or University of California campuses in 2024, largely through online courses students complete on their own schedules.
The arrangement is possible because none of California’s 73 community college districts are required to track how many other districts an instructor works for. Each district is governed independently, with no statewide system to monitor total teaching loads. One instructor identified in the CalMatters analysis taught at least 69 course sections across nine different districts in 2024.
Nearly $800,000 From Nine Schools
The highest earner identified by CalMatters is Thien-Huong Ninh Villarreal, who teaches sociology, ethnic studies and business. She holds full-time positions at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton and Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, while also teaching part-time at seven other community colleges and California State University, Sacramento.
This fall she is teaching about 30 classes with more than 1,100 students, according to CalMatters. Her 2024 earnings of nearly $800,000 exceeded those of any community college administrator in the state, including the system’s chancellor. Ninh Villarreal did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.
A Garage Office in Michigan
Astronomy instructor Andrew Vanden Heuvel teaches roughly 50 online classes and labs from an office above his garage in a small Michigan town on the shore of Lake Michigan. He told CalMatters he has instructed as many as 1,000 students in a single semester at colleges including Santa Monica College, Salinas, San Jose and Visalia, in addition to schools in New Mexico, Michigan, Washington and Florida.
Vanden Heuvel reported total 2024 earnings of $758,485, about $320,000 of which came from California institutions. He defended the practice to CalMatters, saying his students receive a strong education and that at some rural colleges he is the only astronomy instructor available. He has posted much of his course material on YouTube, where his videos have drawn nearly 5 million views.
“Now, did I push it further than some people think is morally conscionable? I don’t think so,” Vanden Heuvel told CalMatters.
He declined to comment when contacted separately.
Full-Time Faculty Adding Dozens More Courses
The practice is not limited to part-time instructors. CalMatters reported that Bobby Seals, a full-time ethnic studies professor at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, also teaches 14 additional courses across four other districts, reaching about 930 students this semester.
Other instructors named in the CalMatters report include Faramarz Mortezaie, a computer science department chair at Mission College in Santa Clara; Nicholas Nardi, a psychology professor at Santa Ana College; Timothy Durfield, a business professor at Citrus College; and Walter Meyer, an art history professor at Santa Monica College. Each teaches 10 or more additional classes at other campuses, according to the outlet, and none responded to requests for comment.
With no statewide tracking system and no cap on how many districts an instructor may work within, California’s community college system currently has no mechanism to flag or limit these overlapping teaching loads.
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