Dive Brief:
- According to a survey by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, senior administrators at public institutions got higher raises than their counterparts at private schools this year.
- The survey, which identifies salaries for the current academic year across 1,227 private and public colleges and universities, reveals the same trend for the second year in a row, a shift from prior years when it was the opposite.
- The increases in the median base salary of senior administrators at public versus private institutions was 2.5% versus 2.3%, respectively.
Dive Insight:
The CUPA-HR survey found a significant range in salaries across institutions with the median for a CEO salary spreading from less than $200,000 per year at community colleges to $450,000 at research universities. The fact that public institutions found the money to give their staffs larger pay increases for the second year in a row is interesting, but it may be a temporary trend, as public university systems in multiple states are currently battling budget proposals from their governors that identify millions of dollars in cuts for the 2015-16 academic year.
The sky-high executive salaries are often the ones drawing the most attention. For example, former Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee raked in more than $6 million his last year leading the university in 2013. His base salary, at $851,000, also put him at the top of the highest compensation list. The question, as always, is whether the salary scale in higher ed is sustainable, which is yet to be seen.