Higher tuition, pay for top UT execs

AUSTIN (AP) - Executives at the University of Texas at Austin saw their take-home pay rise sharply, along with steep tuition increases.

An analysis released Friday by The Associated Press shows some of those salaries increased by 30 percent or more in four years. The flagship Texas school abruptly froze the salaries of its top executives last week amid growing calls for fiscal discipline among state agencies and universities.

Yet, before that, top administrative salaries had generally been going up at a steady clip, from the office of the president down to the department deans. Records analyzed by AP show the budget for administrative jobs that paid at least $200,000 or more at some point between 2004 and 2008 jumped from $5.9 million to $8.2 million.

The increase came at a time when tuition and fees at Texas colleges and universities rose dramatically. At UT, the yearly cost of education, counting tuition and fees, rose 57 percent, from $2,721 in 2003 to $4,266 in 2008. Officials stressed that 20 percent of the increased revenue went back into student grant money.

State Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio is vice-chairman of the Texas House Higher Education Committee. Castro said it is unfortunate for executive salaries to go up a lot right now while students are finding it tougher and tougher to afford college.

Castro said it is a good idea to look into it.

• The chief financial officer at UT Austin, Kevin Hegarty, said administrative costs at UT-Austin are a relative bargain. Hegarty says UT's administrative costs were $94 million in 2008, or about 5.7 percent of its operating budget of $1.8 billion. That doesn't count self-supporting programs such as athletics, housing and food operations. Records show Hegarty was paid $353,995 in 2008, a pay raise of 36 percent from 2004, when he was paid $260,000. UT is not the only school that has seen big salary increases for its top administrators.
• AP reports former Texas A&M President Robert Gates, now the U.S. defense secretary, made $362,000 in 2004. School records show the new A&M president, Elsa Murano, was making $525,000 in 2008, an increase of 45 percent.
• At the University of Houston, figures show a more modest 10 percent increase in the president's salary, from $387,500 in 2004 to $425,000 last year.

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