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Wilkes University’s Patrick Leahy continues — by a wide margin — to be the highest paid college or university president in the region, according to annual data compiled by The Chronicle of Higher Education. But the local data comes with two big caveats.
For starters, three other area institutions — King’s College, Marywood University and the University of Scranton — all have presidents from religious orders. In such cases, compensation may go to the person’s religious order and thus not be reported in the Chronicle data.
While Misericordia University also was founded by a religious order, the Sisters of Mercy, it has had a lay president for decades. But the Chronicle data — from 2014 — has no information on the current president, Thomas Botzman.
The Chronicle’s latest data for Misericordia is (and has been for some time) from 2010, when Botzman’s predecessor Michael MacDowell got total compensation of $311,994.
Leahy’s total compensation for 2014 was $365,510, up $1,933 from 2013. The next highest compensation for a president regionally was the Rev. Kevin Quinn at the University of Scranton: $52,239, up from $47,430 in 2013. Quinn is a member of the Society of Jesus, better known as Jesuits, which founded the college.
King’s College President the Rev. John Ryan had a total compensation of $22,883. He is a member of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, which founded the college.
The Chronicle data for Marywood University also was out of date, but that’s because current President Sister Mary Persico took the post this October. As has been the case in recent years, compensation for Persico’s predecessor, Sister Anne Munley, was by far the lowest in the area: $1,361.
Both Persico and Munley belong to the school’s founding organization, the Congregation of Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The low compensation for religious order presidents does not mean the school’s don’t spend a lot of money on the post. For example, in 2004, the Chronicle listed Munley’s compensation at $180,187, but Marywood spokeswoman Juneann Greco pointed out the money went to the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Similarly, 2004 data for King’s College listed then-President the Rev. Thomas O’Hara’s total compensation at $163,557, but gave no reported salary or benefits for the next three years. Spokesman John McAndrew said the money went to the Congregation of the Holy Cross.
Leahy’s salary may be better compared against other data. One gauge calculated by the Chronicle is the ratio of president pay to average tuition and fees, which was $31,262 at Wilkes, making the ratio 11.7. The midpoint ratio among institutions reviewed by the Chronicle was 11.8.
Leahy’s salary is also a bit below the median, the point at which an equal number of people are paid more and paid less. Leahy’s total compensation was 94.3 percent of the median compensation.
The Chronicle also compared Leahy’s total compensation to 11 “similar institutions” based on type of institution, endowment, median SAT scores, institution expenses and other factors. Leahy ranked 7th of the 11.
Chatham University in Pittsburgh topped that list, with President Esther Barazzone getting total compensation of $581,713.
That’s practically chump change compared to the presidents at the top of the list nationwide. In recent years, the Chronicle has emphasized the number of presidents getting more than $1 million, and that group rose from 32 in 2013 to 39 in 2014.
Topping the list this time: Jack P. Varsalona, president of Wilmington University in Delaware, with a total compensation just shy of of $5.5 million. Coupled with a relatively low average tuition and fees of $10,190, his pay-to-tuition ration was 534.8
Varsalona’s base pay was $427,345. The bulk of the total came as $4.6 million in “other” compensation.
Mark Wrighton at Washington University in St. Louis had the second highest total compensation, almost $4.2 million. R. Gerald Turner at Southern Methodist University had the third highest, nearly $3.6 million.
Five other presidents received between $2 million and $3 million, at University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Northwestern University, Belmont University and University of Chicago.
