Administrators' Pay Rises 4%, Beating Inflation for the 10th Consecutive Year
Chronicle of Higher Education 2/26/07
The increase in pay for positions that include presidents, chief academic officers, deans, and various vice presidents and directors was greater than the prior academic year, when the median salary was up 3.5 percent. Salary data for the survey were reported between September 2006 and January 2007.
Also, for the 10th consecutive year, the median salary increase for administrators outpaced inflation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Consumer Price Index for urban consumers in 2006 was 3.2 percent higher than in 2005.
The survey measured the salaries for 272 administrative positions at 1,329 public and private colleges. Sixty-one job categories were added to the survey this year.
Administrators at public institutions saw greater salary increases than their counterparts at private colleges. The biggest differences were in executive positions, with a median increase of 4.9 percent at public institutions, compared with 4.4 percent at private institutions.
Leaders of doctoral institutions earned the most of all presidents, with a median salary of $325,000. The chief executives of master's institutions earned a median salary of $212,800, while those at the helms of bachelor-level colleges earned a median of $208,531. Presidents of two-year colleges had a median salary of $146,718. Over all, college presidents had a median salary of $207,999.
The overall median salary for chief academic officers was $140,595. For chief business officers, it was $137,424. Chief human-resources officers earned a median salary of $87,869.
According to the survey, the dean of medicine was the highest-paid position in the group, with a median salary of $362,508. The position that had the lowest pay was assistant director for student activities, with a median salary of $38,333.
Copies of the survey can be ordered online (http://www.cupahr.org).