College Presidents Earnings Up While Students Struggle With Tuition Costs

College tuition costs have been rising along with inflation and many students and parents are struggling to afford a college education. However, state college presidents’ salaries have grown even faster according to an annual survey presented today by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The survey reports that some college president’s annual pay is more than $1 million, rising more than 35% since 2003. College presidents pay at public universities have increased by more than 7% last year, and lawmakers are concerned that students and parents won’t be able to afford a decent college education.

John T. Casteen III, president of the University of Virginia was the third-highest paid public university president last year. Casteen received $800,000 in 2007-08 from both public and private sources. This during a time when students are having difficulty paying college tuition costs.

Charles W. Steger, college president at Virginia Tech was paid $720,000 and University of Maryland President C.D. Mote Jr. earned $462,313 last year. Their earnings include benefits and other perks that were received before the economic turndown according to the survey. The timing of the raises come at a time when national leaders try to put together financial aid to help parents and students pay for college tuition costs all while state legislators are cutting budgets for higher education costs.

College presidents of private schools also received huge salary increases. Johns Hopkins University president William Brody earned $1.06 million in 2006; while former George Washington University head Stephen Joel Trachtenberg earned close to $800,000 during the same time period. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), a ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee has been investigating rising college tuition costs and says “belt-tightening” is apparently just for parents and students, university presidents don’t think they should be included.

The financial burden is put upon students and parents to absorb as college president salaries keep rising. Numbers like these make some student tuition advocates cringe.
Yet, Maryland Sen. James C. Rosapepe (D-Prince George’s)—also a former member of the board of regents of the University System of Maryland believes college presidents salary increases will taper off soon.

Rosapepe believed salary increases for college presidents grew alongside compensation for corporate executives and that everyday working people were “disconnected” and did not notice the huge salaries against increasing college tuition.

Whatever the reason, todays’ survey results show too much compensation for college presidents during a time when students and families are struggling to pay for a basic college education. Hopefully relief will come soon and college tuition will become affordable again.