Big pay for school presidents means soaring student debt

By Kim Young-jin

It pays to be the president of an American public university, but that comes at the expense of the students and faculty, a study found.

At the schools of the top 25 highest-paid presidents, student debt and use of part-time professors grew much faster at the average school from 2005 to 2012, according the Institute for Policy study.

“State universities have come under increasing criticism for excessive executive pay, soaring student debt, and low-wage faculty labor,” the study said.

It found that executive pay has exceed levels from before the 2008 financial crisis.

“Like executives in the corporate and banking sectors, public university presidents weathered the immediate aftermath of the fall 2008 financial crisis with minimal or no reductions in total compensation,” the report said.

The report added that administrative spending at the “top 25” outstripped scholarship spending by more than two to one.

At those schools, the use of part-time adjunct faculty increased more than twice as fast as the national average.