More vice-chancellors paid more than US$1 million

The number of presidents at public universities making more than US$1 million a year more than doubled, to nine in the 2012-13 academic year as performance bonuses drove pay higher, writes Michael McDonald for Bloomberg.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, public college presidents made on average US$478,896 last year, up 5% from the year before. Base salaries rose 1% to US$403,496. The gain in compensation comes as states have repeatedly cut aid, forcing universities to raise tuition and count more on fundraising, while requiring increased performance standards such as graduation rates to get funding.

“The job is a lot more complicated and the expectations are higher,” said Lyn Harper, a senior consultant at Yaffe & Co, a non-profit health-care and higher education compensation adviser in Towson, Maryland. “People are expecting more than they did 10 years ago and these campuses are very complicated.”
Full report on the Bloomberg site