Northeastern, Tufts Presidents Rank In Top 10 For Pay

The president of Northeastern University was the second highest-paid private college president in the country in 2011, with a total pay and benefits package of $3.1 million.

The Chronicle of Higher Education went through federal tax information from 2011 for the 500 private schools with the largest endowments.

It found Northeastern's compensation package for President Joseph Aoun ranked only behind the University of Chicago's Robert Zimmer, who made $3.4 million.

Former Tufts University President Lawrence Bacow ranked fifth on the list with a pay package of $2.2 million in 2011, and former Amherst College President Anthony W. Marx was 11th with $1.6 million in compensation.

As The Boston Globe reports:

Each had his pay bolstered by big, one-time retirement benefits, a source of recent controversy at other schools.

Other institutions that gave their presidents more than $1 million in compensation in 2011 included Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

With additional reporting by the WBUR Newsroom