Pay for College Heads Rises 3%; U. of Chicago’s President Tops the List

Median pay for presidents at U.S. private colleges grew by 3 percent from 2010 to 2011, with the number of campus heads earning more than $1-million rising from 36 to 42, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education’s annual compensation survey.

Robert J. Zimmer, president of the University of Chicago, was the country’s best-compensated college leader in 2011, earning more than $3.3-million, according to the newspaper’s review of 2011 tax filings by 500 institutions. About 40 percent of his pay came from compensation deferred in previous years.

Trustees and university officials defend seven-figure salaries as the price of attracting top talent to lead multibillion-dollar institutions. But a study based on past Chronicle salary surveys found that schools whose presidents appear in the top 10 often experience a donor backlash.