UH leaders earn above public-college median

Deferred compensation and other benefits lift the pay packages for University of Hawaii President M.R.C. Greenwood and UH-Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple past the half-million-dollar mark.

Apple earns more in total compensation than the retiring Greenwood, according to a survey of public university pay released Sunday.

The Chronicle of Higher Education survey adds deferred-compensation plans to the base salary to come up with a total compensation package. Deferred-compensation plans, meant as retention incentives, give executives a lump sum after a specified number of years on the job.

Both Greenwood’s and Apple’s pay packages are above the median of $441,392 for public university leaders.

According to the survey, Apple’s total pay in 2011-2012 was $504,859, which includes $65,851 in retirement pay. Greenwood’s base pay of $427,512 was supplemented by $64,127 in deferred compensation for a total package of $491,639.

Greenwood also gets a housing allowance of $60,000 a year and a car allowance of $3,912, which would put her total package at $501,551. Apple receives a $3,312 annual car allowance.

Apple was the 75th-highest-paid public university executive of the 191 institutions surveyed. Greenwood ranked 79th.

Former UH-Manoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw made $396,612 in 2011-12. Her deferred compensation was $51,732 in addition to her base pay of $344,880. She also received $24,000 in a housing allowance and $3,312 in an annual car allowance. She was the 131st-highest-paid university chief executive.

Four university presidents made more than $1 million, according to the survey.

Former Penn State President Graham Spanier was the highest-paid public college president of 2011-12 when he was forced out because of his handling of the sex abuse scandal involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The annual ranking of public college presidents’ earnings said Spanier’s $2.9 million pay, which included $1.2 million in severance and $1.2 million in deferred compensation, put him well ahead of his peers when he left Penn State in November 2011.