Median Salaries for Top College Fund Raisers Jump by Up to 11%, Report Says

Median salaries for the top fund raisers at colleges and universities rose in the current academic year as much as 11 percent over last year’s pay, according to a new survey by the

College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. However, the increase in the median salary of all college administrators surveyed was smaller than it had been the previous year.

Chief development officers at doctoral institutions were paid a median salary of $153,200 last fall, meaning that half were paid more and half paid less. That is an increase from $147,335 in the 2001-2 academic year, according to the survey. Head fund raisers at master’s institutions earned a median of $105,896 during the current academic year, up from $99,599 the previous year, and their counterparts at baccalaureate colleges and universities made a median of $100,970, up from $95,507 in 2001-2.

The top fund raisers at two-year institutions reported the largest increase in median salaries of all who hold those positions: an 11-percent rise, up to $71,078 from last year’s $63,900.

For the sixth consecutive year, the increase in median salaries for all administrators outpaced inflation, which was 1.5 percent for the 12-month period ending September 2002, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The survey is based on salary information for 167 positions reported by 1,415 institutions. Of the participants, 748 were at public colleges and universities and 667 at private ones. Eighty-seven percent of the respondents also participated in last year’s survey.

The median-salary increase for all jobs surveyed was 3.5 percent, which is lower than the 4.7-percent rise overall reported in the association’s study last year. The association attributes the smaller increase to the current economic downturn. Of the five job categories surveyed, external affairs — which includes all fund-raising jobs — saw the smallest median-salary hike, 3.3 percent, down from the 4.6-percent jump reported in the association’s survey last year. Executive positions saw the largest median-salary increase, 4 percent.

The biggest rise in median pay was at baccalaureate institutions. Directors of governmental relations at such institutions saw their median pay rise by 23 percent this academic year, up to $73,090 from $59,019 the previous year. Median pay for chief development and public-relations officers at those institutions jumped 22 percent, to $105,300 from last year’s $85,754.

Although private institutions saw a larger overall median-salary increase (3.7 percent, compared with 3.0 percent for public institutions), the median salary for all public college and university administrators was 19 percent higher than that of their counterparts at private institutions.

Copies of the “2002-03 Administrative Compensation Survey” can be purchased online via the association’s Web site. Surveys can also be ordered by phone at (865) 637-7673, or by mail from CUPA-HR Publications, Tyson Place, 2607 Kingston Pike, Suite 250, Knoxville, Tenn. 37919. Members of the association get one free copy. Additional copies are $140 for members who participated in the survey, $210 for members who did not participate and nonmembers who did, and $280 for all others.

MEDIAN SALARIES OF COLLEGE FUND-RAISING OFFICIALS, 2002-3