Being a university president is a very good job.  We recently reported on the costs at public universities in Virginia, costs that have risen 36% over the last 7 years.  Incomes for our university presidents have also risen. Even the lowest paid president in Virginia, Donna P. Henry of UVA at Wise, makes a a salary of $230,000 which is a good  bit more than $175,000 a year that our Governor earns. [read_more]President Ãngel Cabrera at George Mason University earns the top salary among our university presidents, $531,400, with an annual performance bonus up to $106,280.
Even more impressive than the salaries of our university presidents is the perks that go with the job. Their housing is free, along with housekeeping services, maintenance on their home, and real estate taxes on the home are paid by the university. Â Presidents are given cars or a $1,000 a month car allowance. Often their car insurance, maintenance, and gas is paid for by the university.
President Paul Tribble at Christopher Newport University earns $360,000 a year and will continue to earn that even after he is no longer president for teaching three classes a year as a tenured professor.  He also receives  $100,000 a year in retention payments and an expense allowance of $11,000 a year.  President Timothy Sands at Virginia Tech is paid $500,000 a year with 26 weeks of sick leave per year. John Broderick at Old Dominion University receives a salary of $344,000 with deferred annual compensation of at least $112,200.
At UVA Teresa Sullivan is paid $485,000 year, plus $15,000 for her car, $180,000 in deferred compensation, all housing expenses paid, and initiation fees and dues paid at the Boar’s Head Sports Club. Â President Michael Rao at VCU has a base pay of $488,500 with a signing bonus of $275,000. He also receives $191,500 in deferred compensation and an annual expense allowance of $50,000. He is also paid $7,000 a year for tax preparation and financial planning.
The impressive list of compensation and benefits for all of our university presidents is here.  The highest paid university presidents in the country can be found here. Â
13 comments
[…] We previously covered the salary and perks of Virginia University Presidents here. […]
[…] We previously published a list of the salaries for the Presidents of all of Virginia public universities here. […]
Nice work .. if you can get it.. And pray tell, is this partly why tuition is flying sky high – as in orders of magnitude above inflation?
We taxpayers who pay these public servants’ exorbitant compensation packages have every right to scrutinize these issues.
Here is where I have one of my little itty bitty beefs with my fellow conservatives, who seem to have no problem with CEO’s of big companies or bank bigwigs making tens of millions of dollars a year, but let a college president, who is an executive, make a few hundred thou, and the sky falling. C’mon, Jeanine.
i think the difference is in who writes their paychecks.
Exactly Kelley.
I as a taxpayer have no problem paying public executives a salary that is commensurate with their responsibilities. If you think a $150K salary is going to draw top talent into the public sector, you are not living in Realville. As conservatives we should be more interested in the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the too few, and how the powerful and wealthy have imposed a complexity on the rest of us (the tax code, for example) by which they – and only they, can profit. That is what we should care about. BTW, my daughter graduated from CNU in 2007 and she loved the school.
I never said the sky is falling. I just found it interesting, particularly some of the unusual benefits. I thought others might as well, and they have.
I’ll say it, the sky is falling. That is taxpayer subsidized money. Or, a waste of taxpayer money.
I doubt Greece will be hung out to dry by their fellow “Euro’s”. Why? Because then starts the domIno effect. If I know that, so does the rest of Europe. The last thing they want is for it to be “cool” to give the big banks the middle-finger. So let’s just see if Greece gets a free ride?
How is this the same topic as the over the top college paychecks? Simple. In today’s world, accountability is simply unacceptable.
I must say that Paul Tribble at CNU is worth it. He has transformed that University. It’s nothing short of amazing what he has accomplished. Teresa Sullivan at UVA is not only not worth her pay check, she should be fired. Is there some rule against firing woman Presidents of college and universities? Is it a one way valve, they can only be hired, in fact universities are being pressed to hire more women presidents, but they cannot be fired?
And just what do you tell the people who believe that Sullivan is doing a great job at UVA?
If these people are really as good as their salary, then why are private institutions apparently not making them compensation offers that they cannot refuse?
VT’s Timothy Sands gets 26 weeks of sick leave PER YEAR?
Yup. Isn’t that crazy? He can be sick for half the year.