Presidents at Utah's 10 public colleges and universities are getting closer to earning the national average after the state Board of Regents approved salary increases Tuesday.

"College presidents are at a premium these days," said Commissioner of Higher Education Rich Kendell, who will also get a significant pay hike. "They're getting better offers than ever before."

The cost-of-living increase, he said, coupled with additional merit raises, is meant to help compete in the market for college presidents. He said it's getting harder to keep presidents in their positions when other institutions around the nation can afford to pay them more.

Michael K. Young, president of the University of Utah, is the highest-paid president of Utah's public institutions. With the 5 percent increase in his salary this year, he will earn $331,812. According to a survey last fall by the Chronicle of Higher Education, the U. supplements Young's salary with a compensation package that includes a house, a car and $44,873 in additional retirement pay.

Utah State University President Stan L. Albrecht also got a 5 percent raise and will earn $270,100. He receives $30,298 in supplemental retirement pay and club dues, as well as $12,862 in deferred compensation, according to the Chronicle survey. The university provides him with two houses and a car.

The median pay for leaders of public research universities nationwide last year was $374,846, the survey said. But 42 leaders of those public universities earned more than $500,000 annually. The median pay for leaders of private research universities was $497,046 in the 2005 fiscal year, the most recent for which Internal Revenue Service data are available.

All of the Utah presidents received a hefty increase last year, some nearly 10 percent more than they were making, but Kendell said what they were making was low.

"The past two years have seen robust tax returns for the state," he said. The current state of the economy in Utah has allowed the regents to consider more of an increase than they've been able to offer in previous years.

This year, the board received enough money from the Legislature to give a cost-of-living increase to all the presidents and the commissioner. Kendell said regents boosted that with merit increases to bring each institution leader closer to the national average.

The turnover rate for the top job at Utah's schools has been higher than normal in the past few years. Since he assumed the office in 2003, Kendell said, he's been involved in eight national searches to replace college and university officials at Utah's schools.

"We can't offer them more than they could make elsewhere, but we can offer them at least as much," Kendell said. "We've got to at least be in the game."