A South Bend Tribune editorial on “What’s a public university president worth” quotes Dr. Richard Vedder, a Distinguished Professor of Economics at Ohio University’s College of Arts & Sciences:
A 2007 study by the American Association of University Professors said that compensation for public and private college and university presidents, when adjusted for inflation, had spiraled by 35 percent in the preceding decade. It has continued to grow at a rate far outpacing inflation, climbing even during the recession when state and local funding for higher education was slashed.
The range of pay for these top administrators is huge, with those at the top earning 10 and 20 times as much as the least paid.
Richard Vedder, an economist and director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity at Ohio University, writing for the Chicago Tribune on May 13, said: “There appears to be neither rhyme nor reason for vast differences in presidential pay.” Analysis of presidential compensation shows little relationship to academic performance among 145 schools ranked best by Forbes magazine, Vedder went on to say.
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