University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks is among the best-paid university presidents in the United States.

Salary and benefits of $733,421 landed him spot No. 7 on a list of public university presidents with the highest compensation released this week by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Coming just days after Bruininks announced that he had frozen his and other U executives' pay, the ranking points out the tricky business of paying college officials well while tuition is rising.

Those who determine the pay of public university presidents say they're competing for a finite group of people with the background and skills to lead the giant institutions. The U, with 51,000 students, is one of the largest public universities in the country. Tuition and fees broke the $10,000 mark this year.

Salaries were set and contracts signed before the economy tumbled. Since then, some college presidents, like Bruininks, have frozen their pay. Others, such as the University of Pennsylvania's Amy Gutmann, have gifted big chunks of it back.

Mark Nagel, the University of Minnesota's undergraduate student body president, said he appreciates Bruininks' freeze for 40 top employees, which in total will save $500,000 in its first year. "It's a good step," he said. "It's obviously a good show of faith."

William Gleason, a lab medicine and pathology professor, doesn't think a freeze is enough. On his blog, which often takes aim at the university administration, he stated, "If President Bruininks wants to demonstrate his concern about our financial situation, perhaps he should take a 5 percent pay cut?"

Closing the private-public gap

Pay and benefits for presidents of public universities have risen more dramatically than for those at private institutions, the report shows. Although public university presidents are still generally paid less, they're gaining ground. Over five years, public presidents' median compensation climbed 36 percent, while private presidents' rose 19 percent.

That's "not undesirable," said Dr. Patricia Simmons, who as chair of the Board of Regents, helps set Bruininks' pay. "The best publics are certainly competing with privates for people, including faculty and presidents," she said.

But it's a balance, Simmons said. "As a public university we care deeply about how we fit in with other public enterprises."

Bruininks came to the U in 1968 and has served as president for more than five years. University spokesman Daniel Wolter said that Bruininks does not comment on his compensation but said he was "quite surprised he ranked as high as he did."

In approving past contracts, the Board of Regents has placed Bruininks in the middle of the Big Ten college presidents in terms of compensation and lower than institutions of its size, such as the University of Washington, whose president ranked No. 2 in this year's list with total compensation of $887,870.

It's not Bruininks' salary of $423,000 that's remarkable; alone, it did not break the top 10. But according to the Chronicle, he received the most retirement pay of any public president for 2007-08: $310,421. Much of that is a one-time payout of a five-year deferred compensation plan meant to encourage retention.

According to Bruininks' contract -- which the Board of Regents signed in 2006 -- a portion of his supplemental retirement contributions in future years won't be paid unless he remains at the university until his contract expires on June 30, 2011. The university's total contribution is set at $175,000 for 2008-09; $200,000 for 2009-10 and $225,000 in 2011.

The top-paid public university official for 2007-08, the latest year available, was E. Gordon Gee, president of Ohio State University. He made more than $1.3 million.

Vincent Phan, a 17-year-old taking 16 credits worth of post-secondary education at the University of Minnesota this fall, said he would have guessed that Bruininks made a similar amount.

"$700,000 sounds like not much for a university president," said Phan, sprawled out on the floor of Coffman Memorial Union and studying for mid-terms. "CEOs make a lot more."

Some students pointed to basketball coach Tubby Smith, who became the highest-paid employee in U of M history last year with a contract that started at $600,000 in annual base pay and includes more than $1 million in supplemental income. Other students didn't know who Robert Bruininks was. A few were shocked.

"It's kind of mind-boggling that the U of M president gets paid that much," said C-J Leonard, an 18-year-old, freshman who aspires to be a pediatrician. "Maybe this is just a bias, but for a public school, that's too much. All our tax dollars are going to that."

Other schools also are ranked

James McCormick, chancellor of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, had total compensation of $394,700 for 2007-08. It included a $23,500 performance bonus.

Among private institutions, the only Minnesota college president to make a top 10 list was Carleton's Robert Oden. In 2006-07, the latest year available for that category, he made $528,249, which included $81,590 for accrued sabbatical leave. That put him at No. 6 on the list of private institutions offering only bachelors degrees.

Carleton "exists in a national economy of higher education institutions," said spokesman Eric Sieger, and must have competitive salaries.

Oden, who has been at the Northfield college since 2002, led the faculty through its first curriculum review in 50 years and has increased total giving by 25 percent, Sieger said.

Jenna Ross • 612-673-7168