Do college leaders make too much money?

Every year, the Chronicle of Higher Education publishes its Almanac, which is crammed with answers to questions that college professors care so much about--how much money are we all making?

To borrow an expression from rural West Texas: some college leaders and college coaches are making a shitload of money.

Here are some examples:

• Scott Malpass, vice president and chief investment officer at the University of Notre Dame: $10 million.
• Richard Steward, Academic Director at New York University: $8,733,507.
• Matthew Rhule, Head Football Coach at Baylor University: $7,273,372.
• Matthew B. Luke, Head Football Coach at the University of Mississippi: $11,353,918.
• Ronald Machtley, President of Bryant University: $6,283,616.
• Mark Becker, President of Georgia State University: $2,806, 517.
• Ian Bernard Baucom, Dean of College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Virginia: $1,222,083.

I'm citing extreme cases here--the people I've listed are at the top of the salary scale. But there are a ton of football coaches and even assistant football coaches who make more than $1 million a year.  

And there are a bunch of college presidents who make more than half a million dollars a year. In fact, all of the top fifty best-paid presidents at public institutions make more than $700,000 per annum.

At private colleges, every president among the top fifty best-paid CEOs makes at least a million bucks a year. In more than half the states, the best paid public employee is either a football coach or a basketball coach.

As we are constantly reminded, tuition costs have risen at twice the rate of inflation over the past twenty years. College leaders give a variety of reasons for why this is so. Still, it is absolutely clear that unreasonably high salaries for college presidents, athletic coaches, and even professors are part of the explanation.