Executive Compensation

This database shows the compensation of chief executives at public universities and community colleges, based on an exclusive survey by The Chronicle.

Data for 2009 cover the 2008-9 fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, unless otherwise noted. Findings for previous years are also shown.

The data for 2009 show the pay and benefits, from public and private sources, of chief executives of 185 public universities and public-university systems, and of leaders at 69 community colleges and community-college systems.

The four-year institutions shown for 2009 comprise 153 public universities with total enrollments of at least 10,000 that are classified as either Research Universities' or Doctoral/Research Universities by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, as well as the university systems associated with them.

Washington D.C. and Alaska do not have public research institutions with enrollments of at least 10,000 so figures for the largest four-year institutions are shown.

The two-year institutions surveyed for 2009 include 51 community colleges and community college districts with full-time-equivalent enrollments of at least 15,000 in 2006-7, according to the U.S. Education Department's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. The 2009 data also cover 18 statewide community-college systems.

If a chief executive stepped down before the end of the fiscal year and a full-time replacement assumed the role during that year, the new executive was included in The Chronicle's survey. But if a chief executive was replaced by an interim leader, the departing executive was included. Interim presidents were included in the survey only if they served throughout the fiscal year.

Total-compensation figures include salary and benefits from institutional and private sources, annualized amounts of deferred compensation, and the amount of bonuses for which chief executives qualified during the fiscal year.

Retirement pay is the amount contributed by the institution or state to a chief executive's retirement plans during the fiscal year. In some states, an employee's choice between various retirement plans is considered private under open-records laws, so full retirement pay could not be determined in certain cases.

Housing and car allowances are included. The use of a university- or state-owned house or car, however, is not. Use of such a car or house, as well as benefits such as club dues and expense accounts, are listed as part of compensation, but no dollar amount for such benefits is added to total compensation.

The University of Delaware is a quasi-private institution and is not legally required to provide current compensation information. Data about Delaware reported by The Chronicle in 2009 came from the Form 990 that the university filed with the Internal Revenue Service for 2007-8, the most recent year for which those data are available. Delaware is the only surveyed public university with figures from that period.

In previous years, The Chronicle's survey of compensation for public-university chiefs examined projected levels during the fiscal year then in progress. The Chronicle changed the methodology in 2007 to reflect actual amounts of compensation.

-—Marisa López-Rivera, Joan Waynick, Emma L. Carew, and Simmi Aujla, with additional reporting by Paul Fain