An audit released Tuesday says faculty at Wisconsin Technical Colleges is among the highest paid in the nation.

The Legislative Audit Bureau says full-time faculty in the Wisconsin Technical College System earned an average of $74, 500 in the school year ending in 2005.

The audit show that’s about 30 percent more than their counterparts who work at 2-year UW campuses and, in many cases, more than faculty at 4-year UW schools.

Wisconsin Technical College faculty members' base pay is third highest in the nation, behind California and Michigan.

The report also says 70 percent of technical college faculty earn more than their base salary because they picked up summer classes or taught more classes than required. In one case, a professor earned an additional 124 and a-half thousand dollars by picking up 17 extra courses.

System President Dan Clancy defends the salaries, saying they're needed to attract good workers in competitive employment markets.