How much are top school executives paid, and how much did they pay in student loans?

(Pillar before Woodward Academy in College Park, Ga.)

As President Barack Obama (salary $400k) talked to students about his and Michele's combined $120k in student loans that were paid back after 10 years and two book deals, I wondered how much university presidents are paid, and what type of student debt they accrued. I remembered being told at the 125th Homecoming Celebration of Kentucky State University, a small liberal arts college in Frankfort, that the president was getting over $230k per year. That seemed exorbitant to me, so I decided to do some digging and to include expensive, private college preparatory school administrators in my research.

I've started my first assignment with Woodward Academy in College Park, Ga.

The President of Woodward Academy, the largest private prep school in the continental U.S., is Dr. F. Stuart Gulley. He along with the headmaster manage a 300 member faculty which teaches 2,670 students who have a 100% college matriculation rate. Dr. Gulley received his undergraduate training at Vanderbilt University, his Master of Divinity degree from Emory University, and his Ph.D. from Georgia State University. The school, through Marla Goncalves, Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications, declined to participate in this story.

Iranian born Nariman Farvardin has been the president of Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey since July 2011. He was brought to my attention by a former staff member, and I found that Dr. Farvardin's salary was actually cut in half from his predecessor. The New York Times reported that Farvardin's base salary is $625,000, drastically lower than the previous president's $1.1 million salary and $1.8 million in illegal low-interest loans for vacation homes which were investigated by the Attorney General's office. Dr. Farvardin holds all his degrees in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

As for KSU President Dr. Mary Evans Sias, she earned an MBA from Abilene Christian College, received a Master of Science degree and a Ph.D., both in sociology, from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

According to several news sources, Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee is the highest paid public university president, receiving $1,323,911 in 2010. Gee has held more university presidencies than any other American. Gee received his law degree from Columbia University Law School and his Ph.D. in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Neither KSU or Ohio State replied to our requests for further information on what their presidents paid in student loans.
©2011 Tomi Johnson. All rights reserved.