Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor was among the 30 private college presidents who earned more than $1 million in 2008, according to an analysis by The Chronicle of Higher Education released Sunday. 

The analysis included 448 private college presidents nationwide and listed Cantor as the 14th-highest paid with a total compensation of $1,386,464. The Chronicle used the most recent financial data contained in the Internal Revenue Service Form 990 reports, which nonprofit organizations are required to file each year. As recently as 2004, no college president had earned more than $1 million. 

The report is done annually and looks at college presidents from institutions that have more than $50 million per year in expenditures. Institutions were classified as either a large research university, a liberal arts college or undergraduate and graduate college/university. In this year’s report, a few changes were made, making it difficult to compare salaries to past years. Despite the changes, presidents’ salaries are expected to continue to rise in the future as competition between universities to hire or retain elite leaders heats up.

‘Last year the IRS — where we file the form — changed the rules,’ said Kevin Quinn, SU’s senior vice president of public affairs.

In previous 990 forms, Quinn said, the compensation information the university provided to the IRS was during a university fiscal year, from July 1 to June 30. But for the first time last year, it was based on a calendar year, causing data to overlap. The overlap from the 2007-08 fiscal year in this year’s Chronicle report caused Cantor to be near the top of the list for highest-paid college presidents, Quinn said.

Included in Cantor’s nearly $1.4 million compensation for 2008 is a one-time bonus of $500,000. The bonus was given to Cantor for the completion of her first contract, which ran from 2004 to June 2008, he said. SU’s Board of Trustees — which is responsible for managing and protecting the university’s financial resources — awarded Cantor a new six-year contract through 2014 in June 2008, Quinn said.

But Cantor gave the bonus back to the university as part of a $1 million donation with her husband, Steven Brechin, an SU professor of sociology. The gift was announced on Oct. 31, 2007, as a donation to SU’s capital campaign, The Campaign for Syracuse University, which has a goal of raising $1 billion.

Changes caused by the recession were also unseen in the report. In March 2009, Cantor announced she was taking a 10 percent pay cut for the 2009-10 fiscal year in light of the recession and its effect on the university, Quinn said.

Cantor was the fourth-highest paid private college president in New York, ranking behind the presidents at Touro College, Columbia University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Without the $500,000 bonus, Cantor would have dropped to ninth place in New York state behind Cornell University President David Skorton. She also would have fallen to 40th place among all private institutions surveyed, right in front of Brown University and Princeton University.

In 2008, Cantor’s base salary was $598,758. But that was not the only category The Chronicle included in its analysis. In addition to base compensation and bonus and incentive compensation, it also took benefits into account to come up with each president’s total compensation package.

In deferred compensation, Cantor had $152,214, which is ‘not actual money that’s been paid to her yet,’ Quinn said. 

‘She hasn’t received those funds, and she won’t receive those funds until she completes her current contract in 2014,’ he said.

Cantor also had $123,522 in non-taxable benefits for 2008.

‘Within that, essentially, is the annual value of her living in the chancellor’s residence and the value of her having the use of the chancellor’s apartment at Lubin House in New York City,’ Quinn said.

The Joseph I. Lubin House is where SU holds meetings, classes, interviews and other events. Quinn said Cantor uses Lubin House for business purposes in New York City. 

The final category taken into consideration by The Chronicle was other compensation. Cantor had $11,970 in other pay, which Quinn classified as a ‘small benefit.’

The other compensation category is ‘an all-encompassing category for unusual taxable items,’ said Andrea Fuller, a reporter with The Chronicle who worked on the data team.

She said the ‘other’ category contains anything from a life-insurance payout to taxable things related to housing.

‘It’s sort of a catch-all category,’ Fuller said. ‘This is where you would probably see retirement benefits that were paid out and taxable.’

Although Cantor was the 14th-highest paid private college president in The Chronicle’s analysis, Quinn said she is right in the midrange in terms of salary of SU’s peer institutions, such as New York University, Boston University and Northeastern University. 

In 2008, NYU’s president had a base compensation of $1,238,724; BU’s president had a base salary of $691,716; and Northeastern’s president had a base compensation of $607,112 compared to Cantor’s salary of $598,758.

At private nonprofit four-year colleges and universities, average tuition and fees are $27,293, which is an increase of about 35 percent over the past decade, according to College Board.

The annual percent of tuition increase is currently at about 4 percent at SU, Quinn said.

But tuition is not directly related to the chancellor’s salary, he said. Quinn said he does not think students and parents will lose confidence in higher education as tuition and presidents’ salaries continue to grow.

Quinn said it is important to keep SU affordable and accessible through strong financial aid packages and by keeping tuition under control.

‘I also think to be an elite university, you have to be able to attract elite leaders,’ he said.

David Warren, president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, said in a statement released Sunday that college presidents’ salaries reflect supply and demand and institutions must offer compensation packages that attract capable leaders. 

‘There is just a small pool of candidates who possess the skill set that is required, and are willing to take on the stressful 24/7 nature of the position,’ Warren said in the statement. 

Fuller, the reporter, said there are two sides to the story. 

‘We hear from people each year who, particularly universities that have seen any kind of cut back or tuition increases, are upset about the pay levels,’ she said. ‘On the other hand, these are hard jobs, and experts say that it’s hard to find the top talent.’

Each institution is different, but many of the private universities and colleges that rank near the top of the analysis are paying a lot to retain particular leaders, Fuller said. 

And that trend is not going to slow down. Fuller said several compensation experts she has spoken with expect salaries to continue to rise in the future. 

Said Fuller: ‘Colleges are competing more seriously for the top talent, and we’re going to see more generous payouts from boards in that respect.’

jdharr04@syr.edu

Published on November 17, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jon: jdharr04@syr.edu