BOSTON – Two men who help manage Harvard University's endowment were each paid more than $34 million last year, compensation that the university said would lead to changes in the salary structure.

Maurice Samuels, who manages overseas bonds, was paid $35.1 million for fiscal 2003, and U.S. bond manager David Mittelman earned $34.1 million, the Harvard Management Co. announced yesterday, listing compensation for its six highest-paid managers.

Harvard's compensation system for portfolio managers consists of a base salary of less than $400,000 annually. But bonuses for "extraordinary performance" allowed Samuels and Mittelman to surpass $34 million in total compensation for 2003.

The two managers added more than $700 million to the endowment in 2003, Harvard Management president Jack Meyer said.

Because of the bonuses, Harvard Treasurer Ronald Daniel said the Harvard Management board would re-examine the compensation system and change the maximum annual compensation for individual managers.

Attorney Stanley Eleff and six fellow alumni denounced the compensations in November, saying they were excessive.

Yesterday, Eleff said the figures released by Harvard Management confirmed the bonuses paid were "unnecessary and obscenely high."

"It is inappropriate for an institution like Harvard to simultaneously be paying this amount of money to a small group of individuals while it is charging the kind of tuition it is charging and asking its alumni to contribute even more," Eleff said.

Undergraduate tuition for the current academic year, including room, board and student fees, is $37,928.

Meyer said the compensation system was necessary for Harvard to compete with external fund management companies.

Harvard's endowment for fiscal 2003 was $19.3 billion, the largest of any U.S. educational institution.