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It pays to be a college president

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Wilmington University

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, a total of 39 leaders of private colleges earned more than $1 million during the 2014 calendar year—up from 32 the year before. And on the public side, five college presidents crossed the million dollar threshold during fiscal year 2015.

Despite whatever pressure may exist on campuses to keep costs down, compensation of college presidents continues to rise. For private college leaders who served full years in both 2013 and 2014, average pay increased 8.6 percent to $512,987. The most recent analysis of public college leaders who served the full year found average pay to be $467,533 in fiscal year 2015—6.1 percent higher than the year before.

Nice work if you can get it.

For the record, eight college presidents received more than $2 million in 2014. Jack P. Varsalona, of Wilmington University in Delaware, led the pack earning $5,449,405, of which $427,345 was base pay, $381,040 was bonus and $4,631,035 came from a “deferred-compensation plan.”

Deferred-compensation plans frequently explain the apparent “windfalls” received by top college administrators. They are now considered essential recruitment and retention tools. Under these plans, the university sets aside money, tax-free, each year in a designated fund for the college president, who may not touch the money until an agreed-upon date and must perform according to standards specified in their contract. Unless the president resigns or otherwise leaves early, he or she stands to make a considerable amount of money above base pay in the year the plan comes due.

Mr. Varsalona’s deferred-compensation ranked second-highest in the history of The Chronicle’s executive compensation reports, exceeded only by one paid to Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Renssselaer Polytechnic Institute, which totaled nearly $5.9 million, in 2012.

The Chronicle’s analysis of private college leaders is based on the latest available federal tax filings and includes compensation for 516 presidents serving 499 institutions for all or part of the 2014 calendar year. For public college leaders, The Chronicle conducts a separate survey and notes that the “figures for public colleges are not directly comparable to data reported for private colleges because they reflect slightly different categories of pay and different periods of time.”

Highest paid private college leaders in 2014:

Jack P. Varsalona, Wilmington University, $5,449,405
Mark S. Wrighton, Washington University, $4,185,866
Gerald Turner, SMU, $3,354,128
Amy Gutman, University of Pennsylvania, $2,962,708
Lee C. Bollinger, Columbia University, $2,447,032
Morton O. Schapiro, Northwestern University, $2,352.578
Robert Fisher, Belmont University, $2,120,091
Robert J. Zimmer, University of Chicago, $2,051,089
James F. Jones, Trinity College (CT), $1,661,794*
David J. Skorton, Cornell University, $1,618,328
Donna E. Shalala, University of Miami, $1,570,761
C.L. Max Nikias, University of Southern California, $1,525,297
Ronald R. Thomas, University of Puget Sound, $1,509,650
Arthur F. Kirk, Jr., Saint Leo University, $1,509,342
Lewis M. Duncan, Rollins College, $1,497,248*

Highest paid public college leaders in 2014-15:

Renu Khator, University of Houston, $1,300,000
Michael R. Gottfredson, University of Oregon, $1,215,142 *
Michael K. Young, Texas A&M University College Station, $1,133,333*
William H. McRaven, University of Texas system, $1,090,909*
Mark P. Becker, Georgia State University, $1,051,204
Lou Anna K. Simon, Michigan State University, $850,000
Patrick T. Harker, University of Delaware, $841,187
Steven Leath, Iowa State University, $820,461
Elson S. Floyd, Washington State University, $805,880*
David R. Hopkins, Wright State University, $803,320
Eric J. Barron, Pennsylvania State University, $800,000
Michael V. Drake, Ohio State University, $800,000
James P. Clements, Clemson University, $775,160
Mark S. Schlissel, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, $772,500
Robert E. Witt, University of Alabama system, $765,000

*Partial-year compensation

The Common App brings back ‘topic of your choice’ for 2017-18

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With feedback provided by 108 member colleges and more than 5,000 other “constituents,” the Common Application has announced essay prompts for 2017-2018.  And the big news is that the Common App brought back ‘topic of your choice’ from a three-year hiatus during which both the Universal College Application and the new Coalition application allowed students the flexibility to write on topics of their own choosing.

This is no small concession, as the Common App invested significant energy defending their decision to do away with the ‘topic of your choice.’ According to the blog post announcing the new prompts, the Common App was “gratified to learn that 91% of members and 90% of constituents agree or strongly agree that the current prompts are effective.” And five of the seven prompts are either unchanged or edited versions of the 2016-17 questions.

Of the two new prompts, one asks students to “share examples of their intellectual curiosity.” The other allows students to be more creative by using an essay they’ve already written or one that responds to a different prompt or one that they design—in other words, for this prompt you may write what you want but keep it to within 650 words.

Beginning with the 2016-17 application cycle, Common App members had the choice of whether or not to require a personal statement as part of the application for admission. And out of nearly 700 members, 195, or about a third, elected to drop the standardized writing requirement as not particularly useful in the college admissions process. Others secretly confess that they either scan or totally skip the personal statement in their evaluations.

But still, the cottage industry that has sprung up around these essays continues to grow and flourish.

All that aside, here are the seven questions from which applicants using the Common App will be asked to choose to form the basis of a personal statement (new language appears in italics):

  1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
  2. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
  3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
  4. Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.
  5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
  6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
  7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

The announcement of essay prompts inevitably signals the start of a new year. College-bound juniors along with those who advise them can look forward to the challenge of coming up with personal statements that add dimension to other information provided in the body of the application.

And they have months to think it over before the Common App comes on line.

Note that the Coalition application announced 2017-18 prompts a couple of weeks ago.

‘Millions’ spent on lawsuit filed against the Common App might be better spent

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In a recent email to the nearly 700 institutional members of the Common Application, Jenny Rickard, the organization’s executive director, characterized the claims contained in the ongoing lawsuit with CollegeNet as “frivolous.” While seeking to assure members, who are currently being approached to renew contracts for next year, of the Common App’s financial security, she suggested that the “millions” spent on the lawsuit might be better spent in other ways—“to innovate and expand.”

To update the membership, Rickard outlined a timeline of “relevant events” related to the case:

  • May 2014: CollegeNET files lawsuit against the Common Application alleging antitrust violations.
  • November 2014: District court dismisses original 103-page complaint for failure to comply with the federal rules. The court allows CollegeNET to re-file.
  • May 2015: District Court dismisses CollegeNET’s complaint on the merits. The court finds that CollegeNET failed to allege antitrust injury.
  • September 2015: The Coalition for Access, Affordability and Sccess announces its choice to work with CollegeNET to develop an online undergraduate application for admission for its member schools.
  • December 2015: CollegeNET files its opening brief to Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • April 2015: CollegeNET rsponds to the Common Application’s opposition brief (briefing cycle complete).
  • 2016-2017: appellate court to determine date for oral argument and list of judges to preside over hearing.
  • 2017-2018: Appellate Court to issue ruling.

In the meantime, both the Common App and CollegeNET are continuing to make serious financial investments in their respective application platforms to earn what has grown to be a multi-million dollar online college application business increasingly dependent on innovation and customer service.

Toward this end, the Common App recently announced the launch of a “strategic planning process” to outline a “long-term roadmap” for the organization. While asking for input on topics such as gender identity, criminal history and school discipline, the Common App has indicated that plans are taking shape to make adjustments for the coming year, including the “limited release” of a new feature allowing “students to self-report transcript information.”

At the same time, the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success, which uses CollegeNET as its technology developer, has loosened membership requirements and plans to grow by as much as 30% over the coming year. And through ongoing improvements and enhancements to its technology, the Coalition pledges to continue supporting the “individual and unique admissions processes” of member institutions.

With limited budgets and increased reliance on enrollment management technology, colleges are looking for application platforms that are reliable, responsive, and state-of-the-art. And whichever product can help colleges craft incoming classes in the most efficient and least expensive way possible is likely to earn the business, regardless of how the lawsuit comes out.

No end in sight for the lawsuit between Common App and CollegeNET

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One of the more puzzling stories complicating relations between the Common Application and the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success is the ongoing lawsuit between CollegeNET, the Coalition’s technology developer, and the Common App, the industry’s largest and most powerful online college application provider.

And this isn’t a new development. CollegeNET first filed its antitrust lawsuit against the Common Application in May of 2014—long before the Coalition was organized and launched.  But for whatever reason, the lawsuit only received cursory coverage in in the education press and many in the admissions industry, including decision-makers at the college level, are not particularly aware of its status.

The short version of the story is that CollegeNET alleges that it lost more than 200 customers in the last 10 to 15 years because of “anticompetitive and exclusionary conduct,” on the part of the Common Application, which used to charge far cheaper rates to colleges that used its application exclusively, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. While the Common Application has discontinued that practice, CollegeNET in its appeals claims the Common App used various tactics to “monopolize the market” and exclude competitors.

In an email to The Chronicle, Jim Wolfston, CollegeNET’s founder and chief executive, outlined changes he hoped would result from the lawsuit. One is the elimination of the Common App’s “equal treatment” requirement, under which members agree to promote all applications equally in communications and on websites, and charge the same fee for each.

“We think admissions officers ought to be able to state their preferences clearly,” Wolfston told The Chronicle, “and that vendors should earn market position on quality and innovation.”

So far, judges have dismissed the case twice but an appeal filed in May of 2015 is currently making its way through the courts.

In an effort to update Common App community on the status of the litigation, Jenny Rickard, executive director of the Common Application, recently sent an email outlining “relevant events” related to the case and shared her perspective on its impact on the organization.

“We view CollegeNET’s claims, and continued appeal, as an attempt to misuse the antitrust laws to override the normal give and take of competition,” writes Rickard. “Complete dismissal of antitrust claims is relatively rare, and the court’s ruling in this case reflects the baselessness of CollegeNET’s claims.”

She goes on to assure members that while the Common App is in a “sound financial position” and has the resources to defend the organization, “we would prefer to spend our members’ fees continuing to innovate and expand our outreach and access programs in support of our mission.”

To date, the nonprofit Common Application has spent “several million dollars” defending against what Rickard characterizes as “frivolous claims by a for-profit, privately-held company”—a company with a deep association with the Coalition.

While the Common App continues to expand and reports growth suggesting increased earnings, the topic of finances and the impact of the lawsuit were addressed at the member conference last spring.  And the most recent publicly-available tax statement shows that the Common App reported a loss of over $2.7 million, in the fiscal year ending June 2014. Since this filing, the Common App has brought a large technical staff in-house (no longer subcontracting with Hobsons) and purchased condo space to house them.

According to Rickard, the lawsuit continues with oral arguments and a final ruling expected sometime between 2017 and 2018. And it appears that expenses related to the lawsuit won’t be going away anytime soon.

Nancy Griesemer is an independent educational consultant and founder of College Explorations LLC. She has written extensively and authoritatively about the college admissions process and related topics since 2009. 

UVa increases early admission offers to 5914 for the Class of 2021

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Early applicants to the University of Virginia’s Class of 2021 received decisions earlier this week—well ahead of the January 31st published release date.  Following the recent announcement from UVa President Teresa Sullivan that she will be leaving at the end of her current contract in 2018, the admissions office decided to give over 5000 prospective ‘Hoos some good news to consider.

And it’s clear that admission to the Commonwealth’s flagship university remains a highly sought-after prize among high school students—both from within the state and across the country.

Even with plans to increase undergraduate enrollment for 2017-18, the competition for admission under UVa’s early action program continues to be intense, as the overall number of applications grew to 20,446—about a 24 percent increase over numbers reported the same time last year.

Predictably, most of the early applicants, 14,968 (or 73 percent) came from out of state. The balance—5,278 applicants—came from within Virginia.

Out of this year’s early action pool, 5,914 students were admitted—about 14 percent more than for the Class of 2020, which experienced a seven percent jump in EA admits from the year before. Of those admitted, 2,575 were from Virginia (47 percent offer rate—down three percentage points), and 3,339 were from out of state (22 percent offer rate).

Among the offers, 4,496 were for the College of Arts & Sciences, 1,180 were for the School of Engineering and Applied Science, 97 were for the School of Architecture, 75 were for the School of Nursing, and 66 were for the Curry School of Education.

Typically, more offers are made to nonresidents because the yield among students faced with out-of-state tuition is significantly lower. But it’s worth noting that offers made to out-of-state students increased by over 13 percent from last year.

According to assistant admissions dean Jeannine Lalonde (Dean J), those offered early admission bids were very well qualified. The middle range of SAT scores of this year’s admitted students fell between 2020 and 2290 (ACT between 31 and 34). And 94.6 percent of the offers went to students in the top ten percent of their high school classes (this number only reflects those who attend schools that report rank).

Although over 9000 students were denied admission during the first round of consideration, another 5458 were thrown a lifeline by being deferred to the regular decision pool, which stands at about 16,250 additional applicants. The entire group will receive decisions before April 1. Note that deferred applicants are specifically encouraged to send new test scores and midyear grades as soon as possible.

All students will have until May 1, to make up their minds. And those early applicants who were lucky enough to be admitted to UVa’s Class of 2021 can expect to receive significant encouragement to commit as soon as possible.

Nancy Griesemer is an independent educational consultant and founder of College Explorations LLC. She has written extensively and authoritatively about the college admissions process and related topics since 2009. 

The Coalition announces 2017-18 essay prompts and plans for next year

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In a newsletter circulated late last week, Annie Reznik, executive director of the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success, described some of the progress the Coalition has made since she joined the organization last April and announced expansion plans for the coming year.

“…my first week with the Coalition coincided with the launch of the Platform; at that time we had 900 users which grew to 119,000 users at the year’s end.”

While only 47 out of 95 Coalition members finally launched applications during 2016-17, it is expected that all will be online by next summer. In fact, with new membership guidelines in place effective January 1, the Coalition expects to add more colleges for 2017-18. So far, new  members include Arizona State University, Drew University, Loyola University Maryland, Rutgers University—Newark, University of Arizona and University of New Mexico. By May 1, the Coalition plans to make a final announcement of all members for the upcoming cycle.

But most important, according to Reznik, during this time Coalition member colleges and universities completed 554 visits to 270 high schools where students are most likely to benefit from college information and resources. In preparation for these visits, several members collaborated to create a series of communications to connect students with First Lady Michelle Obama’s Up Next mobile text messaging campaign, which is designed to introduce students to the FAFSA toolkit and College Scorecard.

This project, together with the free tools available as part of the Coalition platform, form a foundation for achieving the Coalition’s mission to “improve the college admission application process for all students.”

And for juniors on deck for 2017-18, Reznik announced that the Coalition essay questions will remain the same for next year for those members requiring a personal statement—not all do. They are:

  • Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.
  • Describe a time when you made a meaningful contribution to others in which the greater good was your focus. Discuss the challenges and rewards of making your contribution.
  • Has there been a time when you’ve had a long-cherished or accepted belief challenged? How did you respond? How did the challenge affect your beliefs?
  • What is the hardest part of being a teenager now? What’s the best part? What advice would you give a younger sibling or friend (assuming they would listen to you)?
  • Submit an essay on a topic of your choice.

To learn more about the Coalition for Access Affordability and Success or to create an account, visit the Coalition website.

Nancy Griesemer is an independent educational consultant and founder of College Explorations LLC. She has written extensively and authoritatively about the college admissions process and related topics since 2009.