KEY FACTS
- Senior management salaries also below market: As a group, senior managers and chancellors in recent years have received the same general salary increases as other employees: 1.5% in 2002-03 and 0% in 2003-04 and 2004-05. Where individuals have gotten more, it has been due to recruitment, retention, or additional responsibilities. Despite salaries that may seem high at first glance, salaries for the UC chancellors and other senior leaders continue to lag the market significantly ( see comparison chart).
- Payroll increases are from growth in non-State-funded areas: As the Chronicle reports, UC’s total payroll has increased 8% over the last 3 years. However, it is important to note that payroll dollars paid from State funds actually declined between 2003 and 2005, with the increase in total payroll dollars coming from other sources – over 60% of it is attributable to hospitals and health sciences, nearly 30% is attributable to contracts and grants, and the rest from other sources such as auxiliary enterprise funds and tuition and fees. These payroll increases directly correspond to the growth and operational demands in these areas as follows:
- Student enrollments increased 3.3%.
- Research activity, as measured by revenue from research contracts and grants, increased 12%.
- Patient days in the UC medical centers increased 3.75%.
- Auxiliary enterprises (self-supporting activities) also increased – bed spaces in student housing increased nearly 13% and parking spaces increased 5%.
- New academic initiatives have been created and further developed, including the UC Merced campus and the California Institutes for Science and Innovation.
- Spending on administration is actually declining : Spending on administration as a percentage of total UC expenditures has been falling. Administrative expenditures have fallen from 11.80% of total budgets in 1986-87 to 9.31% in 2002-03 to 8.45% in 2004-05.
- Many top earners are not on State funds: In the UC payroll data reviewed by the SF Chronicle, excluding the national laboratories, approximately 90% of the full-time-equivalent positions and payroll dollars paid to those earning above $200,000 per year are academic positions. Of those academics earning above $200,000, about 85% of the positions are health sciences faculty, and up to 98% of the payroll dollars paid to faculty in this earnings category go to health sciences faculty. Health sciences faculty are largely paid from professional fees generated by their clinical activity.
- One-time vs. ongoing compensation: There is an important difference between ongoing and one-time compensation. “Total compensation” figures as reported by the SF Chronicle will in some cases reflect one-time payments – such as a relocation allowance or other recruitment expenditure, or payout of an employee’s accrued vacation upon leaving UC – and do not necessarily represent an individual’s ongoing compensation.