Schools

Study Ranks Pay for Private College Presidents, Includes 8 in CT

The Chronicle of Higher Education has released its annual study on compensation for presidents at private colleges.

The study, which uses data from federal tax documents, ranks compensation for the 2011 fiscal year, which is the most recent date the data was available.

There are 550 college presidents on the list, including eight from Connecticut. Here are their names, total compensation and rank out of 550.

Richard C. Levin, Yale University, New Haven, CT
$1,652,543 (10th)

John L. Lahey, Quinnipaic University, Hamden, CT 
$1,203,709 (26th)

Michael S. Roth, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
$660,018 (104th)

John J. Petillo, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT
$629,510 (115th)

Leo I. Higdon, Jr., Connecticut College, New London, CT
$628,467 (116th)

James F. Jones, Jr., Trinity College, Hartford, CT
$616,216 (123rd)

Walter Harrison, University of Hartford, Hartford, CT
$578,846 (132nd)

Rev. Jeffrey P. Von Arx, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT
$376,279 (281st)

The highest paid private college president in the US is Robert J. Zimmer at University of Chicago whose total compensation is $3,358,723.

A close second is Joseph E. Aoun at Northeastern University in Boston whose total compensation is $3,121,864.

Over the state line at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY Dennis J. Murray's compensation is $2,688,148.

A related article from The Chronicle of Higher Education puts the high salaries in the context of the sizable budgets of the institutions, using Mr. Zimmer's $3,358,723 compensation as an example.

"Since the University of Chicago is such a huge operation, Mr. Zimmer's total pay actually constitutes just a sliver of the university's budget. In 2011, Mr. Zimmer earned $1,113 for every $1-million of expenses by the university. The median pay for private-college presidents relative to budget was $5,466 per $1-million of expenses," the author Jack Stripling explained.

College Prowler, the popular website for those in the throes of the application process, ranks Connecticut's private colleges by their tuitions, their number of applicants and odds of gaining admission.


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