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About this project
The Higher Ed Pay Tracker, produced by The Chronicle of Higher Education’s data & interactives team and newsroom, is designed to provide information on the pay and perks that are the building blocks of the compensation packages college presidents receive. We hope you will use this interactive tool to do a deep dive into the data that will help you better understand one of the most broadly scrutinized issues in higher education: the salaries of college presidents.
Our pay tracker will make it easy for you to see the different components of executive compensation and how much presidents’ wages have grown over time. You can also get the data you need to compare the earnings of presidents with their peers and see what slice of a college’s expenses go toward the chief executive’s pay package.
We look forward to hearing your feedback and suggestions.
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Methodology
These data show the total compensation received by chief executives in two sectors: (1) public college and university systems, from the 2010-11 through the 2016-17 fiscal years, and in the 2018 through 2021 calendar years; and (2) private colleges, from 2008 through 2019.
All individuals who served as chief executive during those periods, including interim and acting leaders, are included. Oftentimes, more than one chief executive served at an institution during a given year. Presidents who served less than the full year are noted.
Compensation values for all employees reflect the compensation earned from the institution (and associated foundations) across a full fiscal or calendar year, regardless of the role or roles held by those employees during the full year.
Information about presidents’ tenures and prior employment were obtained from college websites, newspaper archives, or college offices. Photographs were obtained from college websites.
The peer group comparisons use the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, or Ipeds pre-selected peers for the "Ipeds peer group" and the institution's submitted list of self-selected peers for the "self-selected group". Only institutions that are in our collection set for the current year are included in the results.
Institutions’ total expenditures come from the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, or Ipeds, and in the case of expenses, are for the most recent year available at the time the salary data were gathered — usually the academic year preceding the compensation year. Those data are excluded for certain systems.
Public-College Data
The Chronicle surveyed institutions to collect these public data. Our analysis generally includes all public doctoral universities (nonmilitary service) in the United States as well as all state college and university systems or governing boards with at least three campuses or 50,000 total students enrolled across the system in the most-recent academic year.
This analysis does not include systems, state boards, or administrative departments that oversee only technical or community colleges, nor does it include institutions in Puerto Rico. A limited number of system offices report relevant data to Ipeds. Likewise, said system offices don’t report institution-relevant data, such as average professor salary or tuition and fees, to Ipeds.
For chief executives who led a campus and system jointly, the Ipeds data to which their pay is being compared reflect data corresponding only to the main campus. Across the history of this project, The Chronicle has asked institutions to submit the values of various types of reportable compensation earned by their chief executives, from both the public entity and any nonprofit organizations associated with the public entity. To capture a representative and diverse sample, The Chronicle’s methodology to arrive at a universe of colleges to survey has changed over the last decade.
- From the 2010-11 through the 2012-13 fiscal years, the survey universe was based on public research universities and affiliated systems with enrollments of at least 10,000, and universities with smaller enrollments that were state flagships.
- From the 2013-14 through the 2016-17 fiscal years, the survey universe was based on the methodology detailed above. To ascertain doctoral universities in those years, The Chronicle used the 2010 update of the Basic Classification program, developed by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.
- In the 2018 calendar year and the years that followed, the survey universe was based on the methodology detailed above. To ascertain doctoral universities in those years, The Chronicle used the 2015 update of the Carnegie Basic Classification program.
- For the 2013-14 through the 2016-17 fiscal years, we have included on the profile pages of chief executives the names and titles of the five highest-paid employees at each institution, as provided by the institutions. For the 2018 calendar year and the years that followed, The Chronicle limited the collection of employee-compensation data to the three highest-paid employees.
- From the 2012-13 through the 2016-17 fiscal years, The Chronicle elected to collect data reflecting the reportable compensation earned by former chief executives in the period following their final year as institution leader. The Chronicle continued to request that information in the 2018 calendar year and the years that followed. The value of nontaxable benefits is not included in the sum of total compensation for former chief executives across all respective years. The Chronicle asked institutions to disclose the value of “non-payroll compensation” in the 2018 calendar year and the years that followed for chief executives who earned such compensation that year.
Public-college compensation data are not directly comparable to data reported for private nonprofit institutions. (For more on private-college data, see below.) The Chronicle cautions against comparing public-college compensation across various years, given the changes in the formula used to calculate total compensation, as well as the change in the reporting period from fiscal to calendar year.
As of publication time, the following institutions had not submitted compensation data associated with their current and former chief executives to The Chronicle for 2022. Open-records requests sent to some of these institutions also had not been fulfilled by publication time:
- Alabama State University
- Arizona State University-Skysong
- Auburn University
- Ball State University
- Boise State University
- California State University at Fullerton
- California State University at Long Beach
- California State University at San Bernardino
- California State University-East Bay
- Central Michigan University
- City University of New York Graduate Center
- Colorado School of Mines
- Delaware State University
- Eastern Kentucky University
- Eastern Michigan University
- Florida Atlantic University
- Florida Gulf Coast University
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Georgia State University
- Grand Valley State University
- Indiana University at Bloomington
- Indiana University System
- Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis
- Jackson State University
- Kean University
- Miami University (Ohio)
- Michigan Technological University
- Missouri State University
- Nevada System of Higher Education
- New Jersey Institute of Technology
- North Carolina A&T State University
- Prairie View A&M University
- Purdue University Global
- Radford University
- Rutgers University at New Brunswick
- Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
- Southern University
- Southern University system office
- State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
- Stephen F. Austin State University
- Stockton University
- Tarleton State University
- Temple University
- Tennessee Board of Regents
- Tennessee State University
- Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi
- Texas A&M University system office
- Texas Southern University
- Texas Woman's University
- Towson University
- University of Alabama at Birmingham
- University of Alabama at Huntsville
- University of Alabama system
- University of Alaska at Fairbanks
- University of Alaska system
- University of Arizona
- University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
- University of Arkansas at Little Rock
- University of Arkansas system
- University of California at Berkeley
- University of California at Davis
- University of California at Irvine
- University of California at Los Angeles
- University of California at Merced
- University of California at Riverside
- University of California at San Diego
- University of California at Santa Barbara
- University of California at Santa Cruz
- University of California system office
- University of Cincinnati
- University of Delaware
- University of Hawaii at Hilo
- University of Hawaii system
- University of Hawaii-Manoa
- University of Houston system
- University of Houston-Clear Lake
- University of Idaho
- University of Maine at Orono
- University of Maine system office
- University of Maryland-Eastern Shore
- University of Missouri system
- University of Nevada at Las Vegas
- University of Nevada at Reno
- University of New Mexico
- University of Pittsburgh main campus
- University of South Alabama
- University of South Carolina at Columbia
- University of South Florida
- University of Southern Mississippi
- University of Texas at Tyler
- University of Vermont
- University of Washington
- University of Wisconsin at La Crosse
- University System of Georgia
- Washburn University
- Wayne State University
- Western Carolina University
- Western Kentucky University
- Winston-Salem State University
- Wright State University
Compensation components
Total compensation. For presidents this is the sum of the values of “base salary,” “bonus,” “other compensation” and "nontaxable benefits." For highly-paid employees, total compensation continues to be determined by collecting the values of reportable compensation earned by each employee. Reportable compensation encompasses “base salary,” “bonus,” and “other compensation.”
Base salary. The value of the total base compensation earned by the employee.
Bonus. The value of all bonuses and incentive compensation earned by the employee.
Other compensation. This includes three groups of compensation: Deferred-compensation paid out, which is reported here when it becomes payable, is paid, or is employee-deferred in the relevant period; Severance, which is compensation made to the employee upon his or her resignation or firing, as determined by his or her contract, a separation agreement, or a legal settlement. This can include severance pay or other agreed-upon separation pay; it can also include additional reportable compensation that is not covered by the above groups.
Nontaxable benefits. This reflects the value of nontaxable benefits, including health and medical benefits, life insurance, housing provided by an employer, personal legal and financial services, dependent care, adoption assistance, tuition assistance, and cafeteria plans. It is available starting in 2015.
Private-College Data
Before reporting compensation in 2015, we reviewed data for the private nonprofit baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral degree-granting and Title-IV-participating institutions with the 500 largest endowments, as reported to Ipeds. Some nonprofit colleges don’t report the value of their endowments to Ipeds, and those were excluded from our analysis. In 2015, The Chronicle tweaked an aspect of its methodology, to include institutions that primarily award baccalaureate degrees or above. The 2018 Calender year data revised the formula again to include institutions based on their expenditures rather than endowments, and included only those institutions with expenditures of $100-million or more in expenditures.
Compensation data were compiled from the Internal Revenue Service’s Form 990, which is filed by most nonprofit entities and are reported by calendar year. Some private nonprofit universities cite a religious exemption from filing the Form 990 and were therefore excluded from our analysis. The excluded institutions are Brigham Young University- Idaho, Brigham Young University- Provo, and Brigham Young University-Hawaii.
Some Roman Catholic colleges whose presidents are members of religious orders pay no direct compensation to their chief executives, instead allocating money to the religious order. Compensation for these presidents may be reported as $0.
Names and titles of “highly-paid employees” provided for comparison are cleaned and clarified where possible, in other cases they appear as they did on the colleges’ Form 990s.
As of publication time, 2020 data was unavailable for the following institutions.
- Baker College
- Touro College
Compensation components
Total compensation. the sum of the values of "base salary," "bonus," "other compensation," and "nontaxable benefits."
Base salary. Base salary plus sick pay paid by the employer and employee contributions to a 401(k) or 403(b) plan.
Bonus.Incentive pay and signing bonuses.
Nontaxable benefits. Health and medical benefits, life insurance, housing provided by the employer, personal legal and financial services, dependent care, adoption assistance, tuition assistance, and cafeteria plans. For chief executives whose compensation was only available in Part VII, this equates to the nonreportable amount.
Other compensation.Miscellaneous pay and benefits, including severance payments, tax gross-ups (money an employer provides an employee for taxes paid on benefits), vacation leave cashed out, debt forgiveness, fellowships, employer-provided vehicles and parking, housing payments, travel, meals, moving expenses, entertainment, spending accounts, and club dues. Vested deferred compensation, meaning money set aside in previous years that was paid out to the employee in the current year, can also be included in other pay. May also include interest accrued on deferred compensation. For chief executives whose compensation was only available in Part VII, this equates to the total reportable amount from the institution and related organizations.
Deferred paid out. Unlike in public institution data, the value of this type of compensation can be included in base, bonus or other.
