Non-tenure-track (NTT) faculty--typically contingent faculty hired on fixed-term contracts--know that budgets tightened during the pandemic likely mean fewer jobs, with little or no hope of professional advancement. Cost-conscious administrators often resist extending benefits to such instructors or look to trim those already in place, leaving faculty with health or retirement concerns. For those on the lowest tier, pay raises are easily frozen, and research and travel funds are vanishingly scarce, further limiting pathways for professional connections and growth. NTT faculty, whose contracts depend on fluctuating priorities and enrollment, bear the brunt of curricular shifts and reallocation of funds in response to fiscal demand--while simultaneously being called to meet student needs for increased mentoring, technical assistance, and support, generally for no added pay or assurance of a continuing job. Often labeled as adjunct, many NTT faculty actually teach a full-time course load, often contracted for years or decades with the same institution(s). This article examines the million-plus faculty hired outside the tenure-track system in the United States.