Pay of college chiefs going up

EPHRAIM — Pay for presidents at Utah's 10 public colleges and universities is about to go up, if only slightly, after three years without an increase.

Deseret Morning News graphicPresidential salariesRequires Adobe Acrobat.

A Utah Board of Regents committee approved the hikes during a meeting Thursday, and the entire board is expected to vote in favor of the increases today.

New University of Utah President Michael Young will make the most at $295,000 per year. Young takes the helm at the U. in August.

Young's starting salary compares to a $271,000 base salary former U. President Bernie Machen was drawing when he left in January for the University of Florida. That 8.9 percent hike was the largest increase for any of the schools.

"We negotiated a contract agreement with Michael Young," Commissioner of Higher Education Rich Kendell said. Young is actually giving up a higher-paying job as dean of the George Washington School of Law.

A salary comparison, compiled by Utah System of Higher Education officials, shows Young will make more than the peer average, the only Utah president to do so. However, Kendell said more recent figures indicate that, despite this first raise since 2001, all of the presidential positions, including Young's, are still below what peers earn in other states.

The differences in pay between presidents of Utah schools and their peers range from about $4,000 to almost $35,000, which is how much less than the peer average Utah State University President Kermit Hall will make, even after his 8 percent increase.

Still, regents want to increase Hall's pay at about the same rate as the U. so that the gap in pay between the leaders of Utah's two research institutions does not widen, according to Kendell. The U. has a $1.7 billion budget and almost 27,000 students, while USU has a $393 million budget with fewer than 20,000 students.

The Utah College of Applied Technology has a budget of only $34 million, but its nine campuses serve about 60,000 students. UCAT President Greg Fitch, the remaining presidents and Kendell will receive 2 percent raises. Fitch was understanding, even though his school serves more students.

"But I also don't have a medical school or a law school," Fitch said. He said salary rates should be based, in part, on what type of institution is being considered. "I think the regents make every effort to treat everyone fairly."

The 2 percent figure was meant to stay close to the 2 percent to 3 percent raises staff and faculty at each school will receive. Those raises came courtesy of the 2004 Legislature.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com