<p>"The number of public college presidents earning over $1 million more than doubled in the 2012-2013 fiscal year from the year before, according to a new survey." ...</p>
<p>[added note] Also covered: <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-18/nine-public-college-presidents-top-more-than-1-million-in-pay.html">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-18/nine-public-college-presidents-top-more-than-1-million-in-pay.html</a></p>
<p>Meantime tuition costs continue to spiral upwards, along with mounting student debt and parent loans to pay for college. </p>
<p>Higher Education is the New Religion. </p>
<p>I cant help but wonder what the football coaches are paid.</p>
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<a href=“http://www.wtsp.com/story/sports/2014/03/12/2043768/”>http://www.wtsp.com/story/sports/2014/03/12/2043768/</a></p></li>
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<p>Well, I’m not saying how much they deserve or anything…but being the president of a large public university is a lot of work. I mean, they probably work the same amount as CEOs of private companies. $6 million is a lot, though.</p>
<p>Note that the president of entire University of California system earned about half of what the fired Cal Berkeley football coach is being paid for doing nothing. </p>
<p>the numbers are misleading since some include retirement payouts and severance payouts.</p>
<p>GIven the size of the university, the endowments, the staff, etc, it doesn’t seem like huge numbers.</p>
<p>The whole system is distorted. Univ presidents get rewarded for the size of the school’s endowment, but now endowments are no longer being used as per their original objective: to weather out rainy days. The schools now HOARDING the money, and the administrators get rewarded for hoarding.
<a href=“Well endowed”>http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2014/02/higher-education-0</a></p>
<p>The whole system is distorted. Univ presidents get rewarded for the size of the school’s endowment, but now endowments are no longer being used as per their original objective: to weather out rainy days. The schools now HOARDING the money, and the administrators get rewarded for hoarding.
<a href=“Well endowed”>http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2014/02/higher-education-0</a></p>
<p>The $6m is indeed far from an annual salary</p>
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<p>Base salaries of mid-6 figures seem to be the norm for the top 10 presidents. That doesn’t seem anything out of line at all, a pretty ordinary orthodontist or lawyer can get that.</p>
<p>Another aspect of this story is the rise of student debt and low-wage faculty labor at public universities with the highest-paid presidents.
<a href=“http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/one_percent_universities”>http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/one_percent_universities</a></p>
<p>This mimics the income gap between CEO and other employees. It “trickles” down. 
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<p>emeraldkity4, most college football salaries are paid by donations from college booster organizations (For example at Clemson I think Dabo Swinney’s salary is $2 million/year but Clemson as a university only pays $250,000 of that)</p>
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<p>Do colleges get a cut every time somebody buys some of their merchandise? For instance, my next door neighbors have the Penn State paw print hanging from their flagpole and the Nittany Lion is on their cars too. My son has PSU on a couple of shirts and shorts I bought on sale at Old Navy. If the colleges get a cut of all that merchandising, I have to think the football coaches probably do their part to bring in high revenues for the school. </p>
<p>I’ve never heard of that stuff being a revenue source for the school - does anybody know if it is? </p>
<p>There’s a lot of money made off college athletics (there’s probably something with logos being trademarked) - unfortunately all that income mostly goes towards the other athletic programs that don’t make any money at all (reason why most athletic programs actually lose money)</p>
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<p>But Gee didn’t just take home six figures … he took home a lot more than that at the expense of the taxpayers. This study is comparing total administrative packages, not base salaries. And just imagine what that additional 5.5 million could have provided in student scholarships.</p>
<p>Public universities are not designed, in theory, so that people can “get rich” off them. They are supposed to be non-profit ventures that contribute to the public good. College presidents should be well compensated, sure, but it’s just distasteful to see a university president making so much money while students take on more debt for a rather average state education. As the NYT made clear, Gee’s bloated salary didn’t translate into tangible benefits for the school. Though Gee was touted as a fundraiser who was worth “every penny” the taxpayer paid him, that fundraising didn’t matter a hill of beans. It didn’t go to help the average undergraduate student in terms of scholarships or lowered tuition. It wasn’t well allocated, and that’s the real shame. </p>
<p>More importantly, all that spending has not translated into better instruction in the classroom. Fewer than 50% of classes at OSU are taught by full-time faculty. So while parents and students are paying more than ever before, their money is not going to the actual nuts and bolts of education–not to the hiring of full-time instructors or to increased research opportunities. Where is it going? Well, administrative salaries, for a start …</p>
<p>In addition, this CBS article emphasizes that you don’t have to pay your college president a ton of money in order to ensure educational quality: <a href=“Why students should be wary of college leaders' high pay - CBS News”>http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-students-should-be-wary-of-college-leaders-high-pay/</a></p>
<p>“…the arguments that top-paid presidents at public universities are earning competitive salaries are “spurious at best,” the authors noted, given that some presidents at the biggest and best-known public universities – such as University of California-Berkeley – made less than $500,000 each.”</p>
<p>So when people argue that college presidents are really worth that kind of salary, they’re wrong. Other college presidents are doing a much better job with a lot less money. </p>
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I cant help but wonder what the football coaches are paid.
The five highest-paid coaches:</p>
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<li><p>University of Alabama’s Nick Saban is first on the list, reportedly earning a total of $5,545,852 for 2013. The number is nearly $70,000 more than he made in 2012.</p></li>
<li><p>Mack Brown is listed as the second-highest paid. The Texas Longhorns coach will make a total of $5,453,750 at the school this year.</p></li>
<li><p>Arkansas Razorbacks coach, Bret Bielema, comes in at third on the list with a total income of $5,158,863.</p></li>
<li><p>Butch Jones will make $4,860,000 as coach for theTennessee Volunteers this year- making him the fourth highest-paid coach on the list.</p></li>
<li><p>University of Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops falls fifth on the list with a total income of $4,773,167.
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<p>their salaries come from the earnings of the athletic dept. Nick Saban is a rainmaker for the school. Crimson Tide football brings in soooo much money that it funds all sports’ coaches, uniforms, travel, athletic scholarships, all sports facilities, while also giving the school millions for merit scholarships. If Nick had to be paid ten mil a year, he would still be worth it. </p>
<p>^ though Saban/Alabama is the rare exception. Few schools make a net profit from sports.</p>
<p>I live in the town where Indiana University is located. Every time one of these reports comes out, there is a lot of local discussion about the fact that McRobbie makes $1,000,000 a year. Yes, some of it is deferred pay. In McRobbie’s case there is also a housing allowance of about $50,000 (he lives in the President’s House on campus) and a similar allowance for a car. His retirement benefits are aobut $70,000/year. The local paper reports that he will probably not be on the list next year. He received a very large one-time “bonus” for remaining president for 5 years. </p>
<p>When one considers McRobbie is the president of a “business” with 8 locations throughout the state i(ncluding a medical school), over 17,000 employees, over 115,000 students and which contributes roughly 12-13 billion dollars directly and indirectly to the state economy yearly, I think his compensation seems fair. </p>
<p>I maybe biased as I’ve seen him in action. Our D’s shared an extracurricular in high school. When he was able to attend, he was constantly checking emails, etc. </p>
<p>A final note: McRobbie has the third highest pay at the university. #1 is the basketball coach. #2 is the football coach.</p>
<p>Before we even begin to get mad, we need a study comparing those salaries against what they do to reduce tuition for students. I mean, are any of these Presidents pro-actively engaging in reducing student costs and focused on the student’s interest? That’s what we need to know. I’d gladly pay this ridiculous salary for a President who had my interest and tuition reduction as their primary focus, which must include some sort of tangible, validation of their efforts. I want to see this study first, and I find it irresponsible to conclude these President’s are part of the so called 1% when we don’t have a comparison of what they’re doing for their University to justify these salaries. </p>
<p>Inconclusive at best.</p>
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<p>@rrah And that’s why your football team isn’t wining! How dare you have a head football coach who’s salary is only a few hundred thousand dollars more than your President! Take it from us in the SEC, think $2 million +… \m/ </p>
<p>@fullload The Presidents play an important role in fundraising, including fundraising for scholarships, facilities and faculty. The best paid Presidents are usually the best fundraisers (more than just being the best admiinistrators). </p>
<p>The logic followed by most Universities, is that by increasing tuition, they can make the university “better” for students. Hence, it’s best to raise tuition! It’s only a question of how much it should be raised. </p>