How Many Courses is "Too Many" for College Professors?

It depends.

For the first five years of my career, I averaged a teaching load of six courses per semester. Some of those courses were in giant lecture halls with over 70 students, so it wasn’t unusual for me to have over 250 students at any given time. “Overwhelming” doesn’t quite capture it.

I remember chatting with a colleague from another school while away at a conference. This colleague was complaining about their teaching load. “I feel like I’m always teaching,” they said, and I knew exactly what they meant.

            

“Even if you’re not in the classroom,” I said, “then you’re working on the next meeting or grading, right?”

            

“Exactly! When am I supposed to work on my research?” my colleague said.

            

During a lull in our conversation, I casually asked how many courses qualified as too many for them.

            

“I teach a two-two,” she said.

            

“Two-two?” I asked. “Like… four courses over the year?”

            

“Yeah,” she said, shaking her head. “But it’s okay. It turns out I do like teaching.”

            

I didn’t tell her how many classes I was teaching.

As far as I can tell, somewhere between two and ten courses per semester qualifies as "too many."