WASHINGTON (TND) — In an era marked by rising tuition costs and the pursuit of higher education as a pathway to success, community college presidents are given salaries that may raise eyebrows.
Open the Books CEO Adam Andrzejewski joined The National Desk’s Angela Brown to break it down.
“Alex Johnson is the immediate past president of the Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio. Last year, he made $903,000 and this was up from $812,000 the previous year. Make no mistake, it's just a ton of money. $1.7 million over the course of last two years. If you break it down, he's got a “reasonable” base salary at $185,000 but that exceeds the governor's salary in Ohio,” he said. “Then he cashed in on the way out the door nearly $400,000 worth of unused vacation and sick days. He's got other perquisites in his plan that raised his compensation to $900,000.”
Open the Books investigated on the top three community college presidents across the U.S. and found that they make between $600,000 to $1,000,000 a year.
This trend is sparking debates about the financial priorities of community colleges, the factors driving these elevated salaries, and the potential implications for both institutions and the students they serve.
“Out of 900 junior colleges across the country, the second most highly compensated actually comes out of Baltimore, where the graduation numbers are going backwards. Deborah McCurdy was hired as president in May of 2019. The school graduated a little more than 600 students,”Andrzejewski said. “Last year, after three and a half years on the job, she graduated less than 500 students and she made a total cash compensation all in base salary and perquisites of nearly $600,000. We estimate in the first three and a half years on the job, her cash compensation exceeds $1.5 million and total taxpayer cost exceeds $2,000,000.”
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