Dive Brief:
- The College and University Professional Association for Human Resources’ annual salary survey finds slowly growing median salaries at both private and public colleges for the 2015-16 academic year and persistent pay gaps between male and female administrators.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education reports this is the first time in three years that senior administrator salaries grew faster at private colleges — 2.2% — than their public counterparts, where the median base salary this academic year is 2% higher than last year.
- In 12 out of 15 executive positions surveyed, women make less than men, including the most egregious example — the chief financial officer position, where female CFOs make just 77% of what men in the same positions do.
Dive Insight:
The modest increases to senior administrator salaries this academic year marked the smallest increases since the 2011-12 academic year. Last year, the median increase across both public and private institutions was 2.4%, which had continued a steady upward climb.
Besides the pay gap between men and women, the CUPA-HR survey identified a significant imbalance in the number of women even filling executive positions. There are twice as many male presidents in higher education than female presidents and female employees across the range of executive-level positions are outnumbered by men in all but the chief HR officer position, according to the report. The American Council on Education released its own report last month, highlighting the relative lack of progress in getting women into leadership positions in higher ed.