Private colleges are legally allowed to pay their chief executives whatever they please, but is that any excuse to pay out exorbitant salaries to their presidents? Below is a list of the highest paid private college presidents in the United States, pulled from a February 2024 article published in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Breakdown of College President Compensation

Note that the list below was compiled using IRS tax returns from fiscal year 2021. It may not — and, in some cases, it does not — reflect the current leadership status of the schools listed below.

Rank	President	Institution	Total Compensation	Base Pay
1	Amy Gutmann	University of Pennsylvania	$22,866,127	$1,564,547
2	Lee C. Bollinger	Columbia University	$3,865,304	$1,625,998
3	Andrew Hamilton	New York University	$3,554,120	$3,341,125
4	Carol L. Folt	University of Southern California	$3,479,049	$1,419,861
5	Robert J. Zimmer	University of Chicago	$3,427,953	$1,427,443
6	Stephen K. Klasko	Thomas Jefferson University	$3,419,856	$1,993,309
7	Paul E. Klotman	Baylor College of Medicine	$2,788,571	$1,500,000
8	Joseph E. Aoun	Northeastern University	$2,717,178	$1,072,561
9	John A. Fry	Drexel University	$2,599,636	$765,164
10	Paula S. Wallace	Savannah College of Art and Design	$2,583,936	$1,198,542
11	Daniele Struppa	Chapman University	$2,580,730	$703,863
12	Morton O. Schapiro	Northwestern University	$2,539,838	$1,196,409
13	Shirley Ann Jackson	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	$2,443,727	$2,107,787
14	Ronald J. Daniels	Johns Hopkins University	$2,400,646	$1,442,580
15	Gordon F. Tomaselli	Albert Einstein College of Medicine	$2,356,627	$886,957
16	Thomas F. Rosenbaum	California Institute of Technology	$2,239,837	$1,408,059
17	Peter Salovey	Yale University	$2,228,014	$1,366,930
18	Dennis S. Charney	Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai	$2,165,155	$1,100,000
19	John R. Raymond	Medical College of Wisconsin	$2,093,020	$1,077,565
20	Julio Frenk	University of Miami	$2,077,289	$1,228,683
21	Stuart Rabinowitz	Hofstra University	$2,003,023	$559,259
22	Christina Paxson	Brown University	$1,982,296	$1,068,875
23	Laurie Leshin	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	$1,982,083	$901,231
24	Vincent E. Price	Duke University	$1,975,805	$1,533,626
25	Daniel Diermeier	Vanderbilt University	$1,962,597	$1,211,163

Why are Some College Presidents Paid More than Others?

As this list indicates, there is not necessarily a correlation between institutional prestige and president compensation. Thomas Jefferson University, a school with an 87% acceptance rate, has the sixth-highest paid president in the nation. On the other hand, the presidents of Harvard University and Princeton University are not even in the top 25! 

For those of you wondering why former University of Pennsylvania president Amy Guttman’s total compensation is so astronomically high, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported in 2023 that her contract with Penn included a deferred compensation plan which deposited $1.12 million each year into an account that she would only be able to access after reaching an 18-year tenure. Such plans are put into place as a way to incentivize presidents to stay at their institutions for as long as possible. However, some Penn students cited in the article pointed out the hypocrisy of paying college executives so much while neglecting to meet the demonstrated needs of students on financial aid.

Should College Presidents Take a Pay Cut?

In the midst of widespread unrest on college campuses and eruptions of antisemitism at elite universities, it is worth asking: why pay college presidents so much when they can’t keep the peace on their campuses? We at Ivy Coach think it is a shame that such presidents as Dartmouth College’s Sian Beilock did not make the top of this list (for her time leading Barnard College since it’s from fiscal year 2021), as she is a stellar example of the correct way to lead an institution through recent turmoil. Otherwise, we feel that turning educational leaders into millionaires is a gauche misuse of campus resources that could be put to much better use!