Regents raise Utah college presidents' salaries; lawmakers question the action

ST. GEORGE — Utah higher education officials voted Friday to raise the salaries of all eight public college and university presidents, and approved a study that could boost their paychecks even more.

Lawmakers warned the action could cause problems for the state's higher education system in the next legislative session.

During a meeting at Dixie State College, the Utah Board of Regents voted unanimously to give immediate salary increases to public university and college presidents. While those increases added up to just over $100,000 overall, the board also voted to conduct a more comprehensive study of Utah president salaries compared with counterparts across the country.

Officials said Utah's school presidents are between 20 to 30 percent behind the national salary averages. Regents Chairman David Jordan said president salaries will become an issue in retaining school presidents.

Former University of Utah President Michael Young left the state last year to take a job as president of the University of Washington, making $550,000 a year. The current salary for the U. president position is $348,403. These salaries do not include a list of incentives and compensation many presidents expect, such as free housing and side budgets.

"We compete with institutions from around the country. This is a true capitalist market where there is a supply and demand," Jordan said. "If you want to be able to attract the best talent and best leaders in this country, you have to be in striking range" of their salaries.

The current small increases have come out of the eight institution budgets, Jordan said. But in these tough economic times, will lawmakers be in the mood to even discuss presidential raises?

"What they're doing in another state is irrelevant as far as I'm concerned," said Rep. Bill Wright, R-Holden, who is chairman of the House Education Committee. He said higher education officials need to understand that everyone in Utah is struggling financially.

"There are thousands of vocations I can think of in Utah that are under the national average," Wright said. "I have not seen the performance and quality of the presidents that is comparable with what they're paid. ... I don't think one person in this state is going to go to a specific college just because of its president."

Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, said he met with Jordan about the raises Thursday and questioned whether "that is the message we want to send to some of our employees, that they're not worth any more but their presidents, who are making hundreds of thousands of dollars, are."