A salary study of other schools finds the university may have to pay up to $900,000 in salary and perks to attract a new leader.
By ANITA KUMAR
Published July 9, 2003
Despite public outrage over escalating salaries of university presidents, the University of Florida is poised to set a new standard.
Up to $900,000 in salary and benefits.
Among the possible perks: a plane with a pilot, travel expenses, college tuition for children, a financial adviser, country club memberships, even a signing bonus.
The state's flagship university already pays retiring president Charles Young more than any other public school in Florida, $404,950 a year in total compensation. Now it is talking about paying more - much more - to recruit a replacement for the long term.
"It's very clear it's going to be an expensive package," said Manny Fernandez, a member of UF's board of trustees and leader of the presidential search committee. "But we are going to have to be competitive."
A salary study of other schools across the nation showed officials in Gainesville that they might have to shell out a total compensation package between $400,000 and $900,000. Salary alone could cost between $350,000 and $750,000.
Rutgers University pays a total yearly compensation of $719,500. Washington University in St. Louis offers $624,053, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers $412,289.
All three schools are considered comparable to UF in size, reputation and budget. The average compensation for leaders at comparable schools for the 2002-03 academic year was $542,330.
Some schools also offer perks. For example, Ohio State University offers a plane and pilot. Indiana University gives its president's wife $60,000 for her duties. Rutgers provides a car and driver.
"That's what the market is," said Raymond Cotton, the Washington, D.C., consultant who conducted the study. "If they want a top person they have to pay top dollar."
A few months ago, Florida's 11 public universities appeared to be competing to see which school could pay its president the most.
Young became the highest-paid president in December when the school bumped his annual pay from $256,800 to $350,000 with a total compensation of $404,950. The University of South Florida soon followed suit, raising president Judy Genshaft's salary to $325,000.
The race was prompted by a change last year in the way the schools were governed, allowing schools to set their own salaries for the first time in decades. It came as state lawmakers approved hefty tuition increases and budget cuts, products of a slow economy and skyrocketing enrollment.
As a result, the state Legislature passed a bill this year capping the amount of state money paid to presidents at $225,000 annually. Anything above that would have to come from private sources, such as a foundation.
Eight of the 11 state university presidents receive an annual salary of more than $225,000. Most of the money for salaries comes from the state, though some salaries already are supplemented by private donations.
Cotton said the trend to increase compensation came about a decade ago. Schools were being seen as economic engines in the community and were being run by boards composed of business leaders. Florida, he said, has been behind the rest of the nation in terms of what it pays its presidents.
The Chronicle of Higher Education wrote in its Nov. 22 issue that the median compensation of presidents of doctoral institutions increased 30.4 percent from 1996 to 2001, to $356,092. Leaders of institutions with medical schools earned even more, with median compensation in 2001 of $481,220.
UF began searching for a new president earlier this year. It is still reviewing names of potential candidates but narrowed the list to 17 candidates last month. Three already work at the school, including provost David Colburn.
UF is generally regarded as one of the nation's top public universities, and one of the largest with more than 48,000 students and a $1.8-billon annual budget. It has a medical school, one of the nation's premier sports programs and a fanatical alumni base.
The search committee and trustees have set their sights on hiring a sitting president at a school in the Association of American Universities, whose 60 members include the nation's top research institutions.
About half are public universities, including UF and the universities of Michigan, Virginia and California at Berkeley.
But UF officials know they are more likely to attract a provost or vice president from one of those schools, or from another public university.
Fernandez, the search committee chairman, originally said he expected the search to take another year or more but now says it could be done in six to nine months.
Possible perks
A list of some perks that university presidents at comparable schools receive:
