Which uni presidents make more than Obama?
Compared to politicians, they're overpaid. But compared to CEOs, they're a bargain
With a global recession hammering endowment funds and university budgets, we’ve been hearing a lot about how the coffers of institutions of higher education are bleeding money these days.
But to look at the rising paycheques of university leaders, it would be hard to tell how dire the situation in Canada’s post-secondary sector is becoming. In fact, some university presidents in Ontario are paid more than Stephen Harper or Barack Obama receive to run entire countries. On the other hand, university presidents (not to mention Harper and Obama) get paid less—a lot less—than today’s corporate CEOs.
At the top of the university presidential pay scale in Ontario, for the second year in a row, was McMaster president Peter George, who pulled in a total of $ $533,913 in salary and taxable benefits last year. At current exchange rates, that’s slightly more than President Barack Obama’s US$400,000. Although, to be fair, President Obama also gets a hefty expense account, $19,000 for “entertainment” and 10 years of personal security. Last year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was paid $310,800 including a $2,000 car allowance. (Just to put that car allowance in perspective, that’s about how much I paid for my first car, a rickety 1992 Volkswagen Golf.)
The argument is that university president’s pay packages need to be big enough to attract educated, qualified candidates away from other sectors. And considering the paycheques earned by other bankable Canadians — corporate chief executive officers, for example —it could be argued that university presidents are underpaid. After all, Ed Clark, the CEO of Toronto Dominion Bank, made $8 million in 2008. The CEO of Imperial Oil brought home more than $9 million. (See salary chart at the end of this article.)
Then again, looking at our university presidents’ peers in the U.S. suggests that Canadian presidential salaries might be in the right ballpark. The median salary for the president of a public university in the United States is about $335,000, according to the U.S. College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. And while 10 presidents in Ontario received compensation above that benchmark, so did many presidents at American institutions. For example, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, New York University president John Sexton made $1,324,874 in 2007, and also has the run of a downtown university-owned apartment. Although that’s chump change compared to the $4.4 million garnered by University of Southern California head football coach Pete Carroll.
Canada’s highest paid president appears to be in Alberta. University of Alberta president Indira Samarasekera received $627,000 in the 2007-2008 fiscal year, which includes house and car allowances, performance bonuses and deferred compensation. Her salary is up 6 per cent compared to the year before.
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Everyone makes more than politicians, but I like the comparative approach nonetheless.
Nothing makes me happier when the school I go to decides to hike fees by 200$ (even with nearly a 50$ million surplus) to ensure that our admin continues to get their highly inflated six figure salaries. Where’s the justice in that?
God! this is irritating as hell!!!!! here they are planning to making us pay $500 EXTRA for the so called debt of the University, when they’re overpaying administration…. WHERE IS THE JUSTICE IN THIS!!!!!!!*echo!!!*
It’s wrong – my school created a new “miscellaneous” fee of $270 each year, plus the increase in tuition, to bridge a big budget deficit, yet the president has the largest salary of all University presidents in Canada. Do people actually believe that the University is being completely run by her and is thus deserving of that salary? She is surrounded by experienced people who help make the decisions in a communal fashion. Since she is not bounded by a union contract her salary should be the first one to be cut! I say cut it in half. Sure it’s a big job, but do you actually think it’s a bigger job than running the countries of Canada or the United States?
Groups that are supported by taxpayer money should not be allowed to receive performance bonuses on the backs of those who disagree. If you’re running a company, then fine – your decisions make or break the profits made and you should either take a bonus or punishment based on the company performance – but not in the public sector.