A new report published by the Chronicle of Higher Education shows the salaries of college presidents is still on the rise, despite budget cuts and tuition hikes throughout the nation.

ISU President Gregory Geoffroy said the report is only a view of the national scale and does not reflect on the salaries of public university presidents in Iowa.

He said he is unable to make a cohesive judgement of the salaries of other school presidents throughout the nation because he does not have extensive knowledge of their budgets and financial needs.

In the 2001—02 fiscal year, 27 private school presidents earned at least half a million dollars for the fiscal year, the same as a year ago.

While the numbers for private college presidents seem high, the annual salaries for public university presidents are catching up.

Mary Sue Coleman of the University of Michigan — former president of the University of Iowa — will earn $677,500 this academic year, placing her atop the list of public university presidents. The survey also found that roughly one quarter of public university presidents are paid more than $400,000.

Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance, said the presidential salary is a very small fraction of the university’s salary budget.

“This is a very large and complex organization,” he said. “[Geoffroy] generates his salary many times over with what he does for this institution.”

Although national concern is on the rise about compensation packages for presidents, Geoffroy said his concern is on compensation for teachers.

“We need to make sure our [salary] packages are competitive to keep faculty at Iowa State,” he said.

Madden said Geoffroy’s goal is shared throughout Iowa.

“The highest priority … among all three regent universities [in Iowa] is to maintain competitive salaries,” he said. “To keep the faculty, you have to be competitive in the market.”

The university’s method for maintaining salaries of both faculty and administration is using a group of peer universities to compare the numbers. This group includes 10 schools, such as Michigan State and Purdue.

Much like the peer universities, Iowa State is facing budget cuts for the next fiscal year.

Budget cuts that have affected Iowa State’s colleges will also be felt within the presidential office. Geoffroy said he plans on having to cut over half a million dollars from athletics and around $400,000 from the Strategic Initiative Fund, a special fund to help initiate diverse groups on camus.

In addition, the budget for the Office of the President is planned to be cut by $50,000 and the Alumni Association’s budget is planned to decrease by $10,000.

Geoffroy said these numbers are only estimates and can change at any time in the future.