How to parse "$70,000/yr for 9 months' employment payable over 12 months"? I have received a job offer for a full-time contract position at a college in the US. The offer says that my salary will be $70,000/year for nine months’ employment payable over a period of twelve months. I received my offer not long ago, and although I will most likely accept the job, I didn't want to ask immediately about salary issues because I didn't want my first interaction after receiving the offer to be about money. 

Since I am not familiar with university payment/hiring practices, which one of the following options is the correct one:

a) I will be employed for 9 months, then my salary will be ($70,000*9 months)/(12 months*1/year) = 
$52,500/year 
And since it is paid over 12-months, then my monthly salary before taxes will be $4,375/month.

b) Or is it simply $70,000/year paid over 12 months, that is, $5,833/month before taxes.

The wording of this is confusing and even my (non-US based) accountant is confused about what the salary will be.

Update: 7 days after posting this question, I have confirmed that the salary is $70k/year.
Option B.

Typically this confusing language reflects that you only have to teach for 9 months, and your salary is tied to your teaching responsibilities. So the university gives you $7777/month for 9 months and $0 for the other three. You can then supplement your income for the remaining three months. In particular, many research grants allow you to cover part or all of your own summer salary at your usual rate -- so if you win such a grant, you can actually gross $7777 every month and end up making a total of $93K per year.

In your case (perhaps because it's a teaching college and research grants are unusual?), they will "pay the salary over 12 months," which works out to $5833/month. This will save you the trouble of having to set money aside during the year and use it during the summer. 

Note, your college may still require you to be "productive" over the summer (for certain values of "productive"). For that matter, they may provide the opportunity to take on additional paid work (i.e., teaching summer classes).