The Highest-Paid College Presidents (PHOTOS)

Thirty college and university presidents earned more than $1 million during the 2008 fiscal year, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education's recently released report on Executives' Compensation at Private Institutions.

This marks a significant increase from previous years -- the Chronicle's last report listed 23 presidential salaries above the million dollar mark. In 2004, none had hit this benchmark.

The Chronicle evaluated 448 private institutions to determine who were the top earning executives in the 2008-2009 school year. At the head of their list was the late Bernard Lander, founder and president of Touro College, who earned a whopping $4,786,830 in 2008 (including $4.2 million in retroactive pay and retirement benefits). Other top earners who are no longer affiliated with their institutions include Trinity University's John R. Brazil, USC's Steven B. Sample, Drexel University's Constantine Papadakis (deceased), Stevens Institute of Technology's Harold J. Raveche, Baylor University's John M. Lilley and Northwestern University's Henry S. Bienen. The university leaders left for a variety of reasons, including term endings and retirements, which in some cases help to explain their hefty salaries.

Chronicle representatives said that high presidential salaries may reflect the shrinking pool of those qualified to be college and university leaders, a job more political than educational that demands much from its bearer. Responsibilities typically include fund-raising, establishing and maintaining connections with local government and balancing a number of constituencies like students, parents and alumni. And as the position increasingly resembles a private sector leadership role, traditional internal candidates -- like provosts and deans -- are shying away.

The Chronicle divided schools into research, masters and bachelors degree granting programs that spent more than $50 million per year. To determine total compensation for the presidents, the report totals base compensation with bonuses (including incentive pay) and other pay, like deferred compensation, health benefit premiums, housing and personal services.

According to Chronicle researchers, changes in IRS data-reporting requirements will make attempts to compare salaries from year to year difficult. Before 2008, institutions were asked to submit data for the calendar year, and were not asked to specify perks -- today, data for the fiscal year is given, and the new 990 tax form includes check boxes for whether or not (but not how much) money was spent on university-owned residences, travel, personal services (maid, chauffeur and chef) and social clubs.

Below, see the highest earning sitting executives. Do you think their salaries are fair? Share your thoughts below.

For more information, check out the Chronicle's full report.

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R. Gerald Turner, Southern Methodist University President*

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Total compensation: $2,774,000 *According to the Chronicle, Turner's 2008-2009 salary reflects the inclusion of a $1.5 million life-insurance policy that he cashed in.

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Total compensation: $2,774,000

*According to the Chronicle, Turner's 2008-2009 salary reflects the inclusion of a $1.5 million life-insurance policy that he cashed in.

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Comments

[qualityslampiece]

11:46 AM on 12/10/2010

This is absolutely ridiculous. I go to Quinnipiac and When I saw our President was making 1.8million, after they recently announced budget cuts on professors salaries (which doesn't bother me, as most of our Professors do the bare minimum expected of them anyways) I was outraged.

I know CEO's of publicly traded companies making just about the same amount.... a college president of a tiny school in Connecticut should not be making 1.8million, that's friggen absurd.

[Howard53545]

04:48 AM on 12/06/2010

reason colleges cost so much, these jerks are making all that loot, they also get free housing, cars, other perks, booty too.

[Wanda717]

05:58 PM on 12/04/2010

These college president make more than POTUS that just seems wrong IMHO

[Demarcus Jackson]

06:20 PM on 12/02/2010

To be frank, I think ALL of these salaries are too high.

[youvebinfarteen]

02:48 PM on 11/21/2010

These presidents make almost as much as major college football coaches.

[Golfer59]

03:08 PM on 12/01/2010

You phrased that wrong "These college president make good money because of there football coaches. Some of them anyways."

[xrepublican]

03:09 AM on 11/19/2010

Rensselaer Polytech... a black woman as president - two groups otherwise hard to find there.... maybe she's paid to provide an image of 'diversity'

it's gotten 'better' but it's still not a place you want to be if you're female...... geeks lacking social skills and greeks with social diseases.....

time warps DO exist and RPI inhabits one

[fem56]

09:00 PM on 11/19/2010

I met a lovely young woman from RPI last summer. She said she loved the school. She said some of her female classmates were hard on the guys because of the gender imbalance. I gather the school is working on gender ratio by expanding the curriculum. She certainly had zero complaints about being a female at RPI! I would guess the girls are geeks too so geek girl +geek boy = a happy couple.

[Reyeshawk13]

11:29 PM on 11/17/2010

You'd think that for that kind of money Turner could do something about the drug problem at SMU. Of course, there's only so much that can be done when the parents keep on saying it's someone else's kids causing all the problems.

[elanenergy]

01:01 PM on 11/17/2010

Same phenom as overpaid, overbloated, CEOs and their corrupt boards of directors. Academics is important to our country, sure. But come on, these "compensation" packages are being built on the backs of poor students strapped with high interest rate loans for an education they can't use. Higher Education needs to connect itself to the outside world in terms of making curriculums that give a person both an excellent education, and also economic opportunity. Modernize schools of though. Moderate greed. Education before athletics. That is all.

[ChumpChicken]

03:25 PM on 11/16/2010

Where is Gordon Gee @ Ohio State University. If you add the $1.25 million he received in bonus alone last year, he's well over $2 Million in total compensation. This list is not all that accurate.

[Martin848]

05:11 PM on 11/18/2010

The answer to your question is hidden, in the first sentence.

"report on Executives' Compensation at Private Institutions."

[frankcaprafan]

10:07 AM on 11/16/2010

On average, these are low compared to that of a greasy Wall St. trader, and a fraction of an insurance CEO/death merchant's. Don't be distracted.

[sph272]

02:23 PM on 11/16/2010

It's not a distraction when tuition costs are rising 4 times faster than wages and nearly every student entering higher education will leave with a huge burden of debt.

[ChumpChicken]

03:27 PM on 11/16/2010

Bingo - you are exactly right. I was surprised last year that this wasn't a bigger deal here at Ohio State University.

[ryansinclair]

10:04 AM on 11/16/2010

Looks like you forgot Ohio State's President, Gordon Gee:

Gee's base salary is $802,125, with a total compensation package of $1.6 million, making him the highest paid public university president in the United States. In 2009, he donated a $200,531 bonus and $20,053 raise to scholarship funds.[3] The same year Time rated him the best college president in the country.[4]

Might want to add him to the list...

[Martin848]

05:12 PM on 11/18/2010

The Chronicle evaluated 448 private institutions

[AbeMartin]

08:36 AM on 11/16/2010

This article addresses only the direct compensation of these administrators, who are usually public figureheads behind whom dozens of staffers who do the actual work at considerably less money.  They also receive:

Free housing (either in the President's residence on the campus or the school paying for their mortgage and taxes.
Chauffeured automobiles
Virtually unlimited expense accounts (supposedly to enable them to woo other rich people to contribute)
Free country club membeships (supposedly to enable them to woo other rich people to contribute)
Free vacations (invites to stay at residences and estates of those the Prexy wooed to contribute)
Corporate board memberships (four or five board seats is the norm for the top chiefs) @$250,000 per year + per diems + stock options
Household maintenance provided by the schools Buildings & Grounds personnel who make about $20K per year.

Compare this to the $6.00 per hour paid by the school for most of the student employees
Compare this to the $2,000-$4,000 per course adjunct faculty are paid by the school.
Compare this to the $20,000 per year paid to most of the secretaries and administrative assistants
Compare this to the tuition waiver plus stipend paid to the teaching assistants

Oh, and don't forget that for everyone of these pampered princes and princes of academic, that there are hundreds of senior administrators running small schools and community colleges that are lucky to make over $100,000 per year.

[Howard53545]

05:24 AM on 11/16/2010

This is the reason why colleges cost so much, overpaid and useless administrators push costs sky high.

[From the Raft]

09:44 AM on 11/16/2010

Plus, academia if rife with thieves and imposters..

#24

[LeftyJen]

02:34 AM on 11/16/2010

The president of my small private university in Oregon makes more than the president of Harvard does. He's a great president, but when so many people I know have had to withdraw for financial reasons, it just doesn't seem right...

[cheeeeeeese]

03:17 AM on 11/17/2010

gotta get that paper

[Kyle Poorman]

01:04 AM on 11/16/2010

The photo of Chapman University is actually a photo of Iowa State University. Wonderful research.