President Sexton Has Highest Base Pay Of Any University President

According to data from The Chronicle of Higher Education released Sunday, NYU president John Sexton has the highest base pay of any university president in the country, with a base pay of $1,242,636 a year. According to the article, the median base pay for private-college presidents was $347,789.

Total compensation was also calculated, which takes into account base pay, bonuses, other compensation, and nontaxable compensation. By that metric, Sexton’s total compensation falls behind that of eight other university presidents, with Lee Bollinger of Columbia topping the list. Bollinger’s total compensation in 2013 came to $4,615,230. Sexton’s total compensation of $1,452,992 is 359% of the median for executive compensation and the equivalent of 32.4 student tuitions.

Sexton was not, however, the highest-paid person on campus. In fact, seven other individuals made more in 2013, with Robert Grossman, the dean and CEO of the medical school, bringing in a total compensation in 2013 of $4,744,184, at the top of the list.

The Chronicle examined data from 2013, the most recent public data, and looked at 558 chief executives at private nonprofit colleges in the United States and 238 chief executives at public universities. Of those at private nonprofit colleges, the median salary was $436,429, with 32 of them earning more than $1 million. For public colleges, the median salary was $428,250, with just two earning more than $1 million.

President Sexton has been at the helm of NYU since May of 2002, and this coming January he will be leaving the post. Oxford Vice-Chancellor (the British equivalent of university president) Andrew Hamilton will take over the leading role.

The most recent available data on Hamilton’s Oxford salary also comes from 2013, when he made £424,000 (or about $660,000). The average pay package in the U.K. in 2013 for vice-chancellors was £247,000. Hamilton’s pay package put him at the top of the list.

NYU did not respond to requests for comment on how Hamilton’s salary at NYU will compare to Sexton’s nor for requests for comment on Sexton’s chart-topping base pay.

[Image credit Ruth Fremson]