ISU professors are underpaid.

And soon they may be leaving Iowa State and looking for better paying options.

According to the recent report, the average salary of Iowa State faculty members is $72,100, which is the lowest compared with Peer 11 land-grant universities.

Iowa State faculty earn more money on average than colleagues at the University of Northern Iowa. However, at the University of Iowa the average salary is $77,200.

It is a major problem, and Warren Madden, vice president for Business and Finance, knows it.

“Clearly, the university is concerned about faculty salary,” he told the Daily. “We have slipped down to the bottom in the universities that we compete with.”

With this type of salary range, it will become more difficult to retain quality professors.

Similar institutions such as the University of Wisconsin, Purdue University and Michigan State University will be tempting destinations for ISU professors who are facing increasingly tight budgets and pay cuts at Iowa State.

In addition, it will be harder to attract quality educators.

Professors may be able to choose from salaries that top $86,400 at University of California, Davis, or at Iowa State, with the lowest.

Nonetheless, the money does speak. Iowa State needs to find ways to be able to pay faculty salaries that are competitive with their colleagues at comparable universities.

Iowa State University is an excellent educational institution, but in order to maintain and improve our university, we must increase.

In order to attract and keep professors who will take Iowa State to new heights, we must compensate them better.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Zach Calef, Omar Tesdell