President Tilghman's salary, $533,057 for the 2002-2003 fiscal year including benefits, is in line with nationwide trends in college presidents' salaries and matches up with the pay of Ivy League presidents, a new report shows.
Tilghman makes more than the presidents of Harvard, Brown and Dartmouth, and less than those at Columbia, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale.
Nationwide, salaries for college presidents have increased dramatically: 19.2 percent between 2002 and 2003.
Tilghman's salary increased at a more moderate 9.5 percent from the $486,672 she earned in 2001-2002. The median salary for a president of a research university — the definition under which Princeton is categorized — is $459,643, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Outgoing Penn president Judith Rodin topped the Ivy League in compensation in 2002-2003, earning $893,213.
Salary at the University is determined by the Committee on Compensation, which is part of the Board of Trustees. The head of the committee, Robert Rawson '66, said that executive salaries are determined on a year-to-year basis.
"Every year we evaluate the performance of the president and we find out what we can about the situation at peer universities," he said.
Among criteria the committee considers is the length of the president's term, he added.
However, Rawson emphasized the disparities between universities.
"There are a variety of different ways to approach salaries and benefits," as well as differences in resources — for example, whether a university has a law or medical school, he said. "You're comparing apples and oranges."
Two people at the University were paid more in 2002-2003 than Tilghman: Andrew Golden, president of the Princeton University Investment Company, who received $1,050,080 including benefits; and Harold Shapiro, president emeritus and professor of economics and public affairs, who received $547,524 including benefits.
Golden said the difference in compensation is appropriate. "The person responsible for investing is traditionally one of the highest-paid people at many universities."
He also said that "salaries are well-thought-out in [that] they reflect market forces."
Nationwide, salaries are on the rise for several reasons. More than ever, colleges are competitively pursuing strong presidents who will increase fundraising for the school.
Also, trustees are increasingly drawn from the business world, where high executive pay rates are common.
The highest-paid college president, William Brody of Johns Hopkins University, received $897,786 in 2003, while 6.5 percent of college presidents, usually members of religious orders, received no pay at all.
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