Admissions Blog

Undergraduate Admissions Uncensored

  • Admissions.Blog

It pays to be a college president

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Nancy Griesemer

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

About Nancy Griesemer

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

Filed Under: Advice & Analysis, News, Public Universities

Related posts:

UVa increases early admission offers to 5914 for the Class of 2021 No end in sight for the lawsuit between Common App and CollegeNET UVa admits 9,957 for Class of 2021 Top colleges for Fulbright student awards in 2016-17

Subscribe to our mailing list

12 Reasons Scattergrams Lull Students Into a False Sense of Security

UNC and a tale of one – make that four – acceptance rates

College Application Completion Playlist: Top 20+ Tracks to Get Inspiration to Get Into College

Trending Posts

University of Exeter makes international student scholarship and admissions news

Best College Acceptance Gifts for the Class of 2021

The 3 Dos and Dont’s to get Accepted into America’s Most Selective Colleges

Georgetown’s 2020 School-Specific Acceptance Rates

Building Your Best College List

Dear 9th Grader: Don’t get rejected from the Ivy League so soon!

Another Reason Why Your Common Application Essay is So Bad

Dear 12th Grader: Don’t Blow Your Ivy Chances Now

12 of the nation’s most prestigious science competitions for high school students

The Ultimate Virtual College Admissions Library – 2020 Edition

Avoid Tuition Anxiety: Put Strong Merit Aid Colleges on Your List

Colgate’s 2021 Admissions Stats

Many high school counselors mean well but…

What to make of Tufts’ Early Decision Deadline Extension

Amherst Shares Latest Admissions Stats

What the death of SAT Subject Tests means for strong high school students

Dear 11th Grader: Don’t Screw Up Your Ivy League Chances Now

1404 Error: University of Georgia Early Action Stats Full of Spin

Dear 10th Grader: Don’t Become An Ivy League Reject!

Featured Blog Topics

  • 3 Year Degree (2)
  • Accommodations (2)
  • Admissions Policies (70)
  • Admissions Statistics (42)
  • Advice & Analysis (259)
  • Alabama (1)
  • Amherst (1)
  • AP (2)
  • Applications (59)
  • Arizona (3)
  • Boston University (2)
  • Brown (2)
  • Bryn Mawr (1)
  • Caltech (1)
  • Canada (2)
  • Career and Technical Education (4)
  • Case Western (3)
  • China (1)
  • CMC (1)
  • Coalition (13)
  • College Counselor (14)
  • College Fairs (4)
  • College Life (21)
  • College List (30)
  • College List Deathmatch (4)
  • College Visit (16)
  • Columbia (5)
  • Common Application (28)
  • Community Colleges (4)
  • Cornell (2)
  • COVID-19 (6)
  • Dartmouth (2)
  • Demonstrated Interest (15)
  • DePaul (1)
  • Dickinson (1)
  • Duke (1)
  • Early Action (27)
  • Early Decision (31)
  • Enrichment (12)
  • Essays (18)
  • Europe (4)
  • Exeter (1)
  • Extracurricular Activities (25)
  • Feature (1)
  • Financial Aid (20)
  • First Person (10)
  • France (1)
  • Gap Programs (2)
  • GED (1)
  • Georgetown (3)
  • Germany (2)
  • GPA (3)
  • Hamilton (1)
  • Harvard (4)
  • High School (18)
  • HiSET (1)
  • IB (2)
  • IEC (1)
  • Indiana (2)
  • International (3)
  • Internships (5)
  • Interviews (10)
  • Iowa (1)
  • Ivy League (18)
  • JHU (2)
  • LD (1)
  • Majors (9)
  • MIT (3)
  • Naviance (2)
  • NCAA (3)
  • News (37)
  • Northwestern (2)
  • Notification News (1)
  • Notre Dame (1)
  • NYU (1)
  • Of Note (3)
  • Parents (6)
  • Penn (5)
  • Popular Posts (9)
  • Princeton (4)
  • Priority (2)
  • Professor of the Month (1)
  • PSU (3)
  • Public Universities (8)
  • Purdue (1)
  • Rankings (4)
  • Recommendations (5)
  • Regular (13)
  • Research (4)
  • Resume (17)
  • Rice (1)
  • ROI (2)
  • Rolling (5)
  • South America (2)
  • Standardized Tests (27)
  • Stanford (1)
  • Summer (18)
  • Swarthmore (1)
  • TASC (1)
  • Teacher Recommendations (7)
  • Texas (2)
  • Ticker (17)
  • Trending Posts (19)
  • Tufts (3)
  • Tuition (2)
  • Tulane (2)
  • UC Berkeley (5)
  • UCAS (3)
  • UCLA (6)
  • UF (1)
  • UGA (2)
  • UMass (1)
  • UMD (4)
  • UNC (1)
  • Uncategorized (1)
  • United Kingdom (4)
  • Universal College Application (1)
  • University of Chicago (1)
  • University of Rochester (1)
  • USC (1)
  • UVA (6)
  • Vanderbilt (1)
  • Video Game Design (1)
  • Villanova (2)
  • Wash U (4)
  • Williams (1)
  • Wisconsin (1)
  • Yale (9)
  • ZeeMee (1)
Get Expert College Admissions Coaching Now

 

Write for Us | Sponsored Posts
All content © 2021 | Admissions.Blog
Terms of Service | +1 410-526-2558
Support Admissions.Blog; donate any amount of Bitcoin to the address or by using the QR Code below.
3CsE43YgJN4R8B9o6E3JJxqVoBWp4wUDoE

Copyright © 2021 · Metro Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in