Utah’s university presidents received a pay increase this year. Utah’s State Board of Regents approved the increase for all state university presidents to bring them closer to median pay rates at peer institutions across the country, which took effect July 1.
Utah System of Higher Education spokesperson Pam Silberman said president salaries may be lower in Utah because of past budget cuts to higher education.
"Research was done into the presidential compensation and was found that the presidents were making significantly lower than their peers, so the idea was to bring them more in line with the peers in other institutions of similar size and similar mission," she said.
The salary increases will occur in increments at 15, 10 and 5 percent below the medians that will eventually bring them bring them to match the peer benchmark over time.
"It's a complex job, and we want to be able to attract and retain the highest caliber individuals to lead our institutions," Silberman said.
The increases will bring salaries to the range of about $150,000 at Salt Lake Community College to about $360,000 at the University of Utah. The raises are subject to the presidents receiving favorable reviews from a review team made up of members from the Board of Regents and university Board of Trustees.
Tavin Stucki is a senior in Utah State University's journalism program, and works as a news reporting intern at UPR. He lives for sports, and is the current editor in chief at The Utah Statesman.