Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook

Uproar After NC State Agent 'Fixes' Girl's Lunch Preschooler has to eat chicken nuggets instead of mom's meal »

College Bosses Earn Record $1M+ Pay

Despite recession, school leaders' pay grows—with tuition

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 2, 2009 5:14 AM CST

(Newser) – Lean times can go to the back of the class when it comes to college presidents. A record 23 of them raked in more than $1 million last year, up from nine in 2007. Not so surprisingly, many of presidents reigned at institutions among the 58 which charged more than $50,000 in tuition and fees last year, up from just five the year before, AP reports.

Here's what the highest paid college and university presidents collect:

Shirley Ann Jackson, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: $1,598,247.
David Sargent, Suffolk University: $1,496,593.
Steadman Upham, University of Tulsa: $1,485,275.
Cornelius M. Kerwin, American University: $1,419,339.
Lee C. Bollinger, Columbia: $1,380,035.

Click the link for the complete list.

[Images (1)]

[Quotes (1)]

A record 23 private college presidents took home over $1 million in 2008. (Shutterstock)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

The baby boomers are retiring. Boards are in a scramble competing against each other for the remaining available talent.
- Ray Cotton, expert on presidential contracts and compensation.

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

AP Photo

35 Brutally Honest Reasons Men Say No to Sex (The Stir)

Which Entertainer Pulled Out of 'Inappropriate' Whitney Tribute? (NewsOne)

The French Government Wants to Tone My Vagina (Slate)

Obama Photo on Facebook Helps Catch Drug Dealer (HuffPost)

Hottest Women to Ever Appear in the SI Swimsuit Issue (Bleacher Report)

Partner Links

A snapshot of the day's best news stories.

View Larger Grid

All Today Yesterday Pick a Date

COMMENTS

Read the comment policy

Showing 3 of 11 comments

cognitivefilter

Nov 3, 2009 5:07 AM CST

i don't want to pay my globalist college empress any more than she deserves, which is probably less than $1,000,000

Netstorm2k10

Nov 2, 2009 12:56 PM CST

Nothing new. The rich control the paper mill that makes them richer. By paper I mean degree. Gotta love a society where four years of education prepares you for a job at a telemarketer.

cochiserocks

Nov 2, 2009 10:06 AM CST

If I told you about a system that would cost you a load of money, teach you a bunch of stuff, after which in most cases, you'd need to take a few years to learn what was really going on. You'd probably say there was something wrong with the system. Time for a change. This is becoming yet another gravy train underneath which the system has fundamental flaws and is failing. How about a college dgree that gave you information that was relevant, real world, and appropriate to your generation and the challenges it faced - instead of just propping up the status quo and supplying society with a bunch of confused kids sure of nothing except that earning more money than their neighbour might make them happier than their neighbour. Based on this example, wonder where that example is coming from?

What's Popular Now on Facebook

Rick Santorum: Birth Control Is 'Not OK'

Valentine's Day Role-Playing Goes Very Wrong

Associated Press (Source Grid »)

US • Money

president • college • university • income • millionaires

More Newser Stories

New College Rankings: An Ivy Deadheat

Harvard, Princeton top universities list

(NEWSER) - US News and World Report has released its latest college rankings, and it’s full of the usual suspects, with Harvard, Princeton, and Yale topping the list; not much has changed since last year . Among liberal arts colleges , Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore lead the pack. The magazine also presents its best universities in the world : The UK is on top, with Cambridge at No. 1, followed by Harvard and Yale (don’t ask us why Yale beats Princeton worldwide but not nationally). More»

Most Common Grade in US Colleges: A

'Consumer-based' education to blame for loosening standards, says report

(NEWSER) - A is for "average," especially at American colleges and universities today—a stunning 43% of all grades in the United States are now A's, according to a new report on grade inflation . That's up from just 15% in 1960 and 31% as recently as 1988, notes the Economix blog at the New York Times . At the same time, the number of bad grades have plummeted, with C's going from 35% in 1960 to just 15% today; D's have dropped from about 11% to 5%. More»

Next Bubble to Burst? Higher Education

We invest vast sums in a future that may not exist, says Peter Thiel

(NEWSER) - We’re in the midst of another bubble, and it's not an Internet one, according to PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. It's a higher education bubble, and "like the housing bubble, the education bubble is about security and insurance against the future,” writes Sarah Lacy, who sat down to interview Thiel for TechCrunch . Students pay universities big bucks not to teach them, but to guarantee their security, argues Thiel. Questioning the value of education has long been "the absolute taboo," he says—but now more and more kids are graduating ... then moving home, leading many to ask, "Is it worth it?" More»

Freshmen More Stressed Than Ever

First-year college students report low emotional health

(NEWSER) - College freshmen might not be learning much —but that doesn’t mean they’re not stressed. The levels of emotional health in incoming freshmen hit a record low last year, probably thanks in part to the recession. According to an annual survey, students who rated themselves as having “below average” emotional health rose, while those who said they had “above average” emotional health fell to 52%. In 1985, 64% of students claimed “above average” emotional health, the New York Times reports. Parental unemployment was also at a record high. More»

Kids Don't Learn Much in First 2 Years of College

They're more interested in socializing, surprise, surprise

(NEWSER) - Yet another reason to skip college : You probably won’t learn all that much anyway. A new book reveals that almost half of the undergrads in America learn basically nothing during their first two years, USA Today reports. Even after four years, 36% of students had made few significant gains in learning. That’s because academics aren’t made a priority, according to Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, whose findings stem from the transcripts, standardized tests, and surveys of 3,000 full-time college students on 29 campuses. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

College Bosses Earn Record $1M+ Pay