A committee of the Board of Trustees on Tuesday approved a salary increase of up to $342,500 for University of South Florida President Rhea Law in the final year of her contract.
The salary increase was the result of a salary study aimed at keeping salaries comparable to those of other university presidents in Florida, as well as recent adjustments to presidential compensation at other schools as a result of the salary of New College President Richard Corcoran.
Changes to Law’s contract increased her base salary from $625,000 to $855,000 per year and raised the cap on her incentive compensation from $300,000 to $412,500. It also increased her deferred compensation plan for the previous and current year from 20% of base salary to 25%. The increase would bring her salary close to that of the University of Central Florida’s presidential compensation package.
University general counsel Gerard Solis said there have been significant changes in the presidential salary market since Law was appointed president in March 2022.
According to the study, which was based on contracts from 2023, the president of Florida State University earned a base salary of $1 million and total compensation of about $1.45 million. Former University of Florida President Ben Sasse earned a base salary of $1 million and total compensation of about $1.38 million. The president of UCF earned a base salary of $825,000 and total compensation of about $1.3 million. Corcoran of New College earned a base salary of $699,000 and total compensation of $1.09 million.
“Without wanting to diminish the complexity of New College, I think we can all agree that the scope and scale of the University of South Florida is at least quite a bit larger,” Solis said in a presentation to the board.
Solis said that as a metropolitan institution with a research focus and health center, UCF is “an appropriate market barometer.” FSU, UF and UCF made further adjustments a year ago to compete with New College, Solis said. The study also found that USF ranked near the top end compared to other universities nationally, ranking ahead of the University of Arizona, the University of Utah, the University at Buffalo and San Diego State University, but behind FSU and Arizona State University.
A trustee asked why Law was not paid more than USF was recently admitted to the Association of American Universities, a prestigious league of universities that previously only included UF in Florida.
Will Weatherford, chairman of the USF board, said he thought it was fair and was grateful that Law was not motivated by money.
“I reacted a little too late, so I take responsibility for that,” he said. “From a political point of view, it’s not wrong to have a little less to do in that regard. The board, I think, appreciates that we are not the ones who always put compensation above others.”
Under Florida law, only $250,000 of the president’s salary can come from public funds. The rest must come from private funds and foundations.
“I think we want to pay Rhea fairly,” Weatherford said. “She’s putting a lot on the line. But we also don’t necessarily want to be the ones to initiate the compensation re-evaluation that seems to happen every year or two. So I’m comfortable with where we’re positioned.”
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Law’s contract ends in March. The salary increase must be approved by the full board in September.
