President Andrew K. Benton was Pepperdine’s highest-paid employee in the 2010-2011 fiscal year with a compensation of $545,782, according to the university’s most recent IRS tax forms.
The IRS Form 990 is an annual tax document that all nonprofit institutions and organizations need to submit to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. These forms are released to the public two years after they are submitted and detail information on the finances of the institution.
Benton’s compensation is not unusual for a president of a private university. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, Benton’s compensation in 2009 fell into the 25.8 percent of university presidents who earned between $400,000 and $599,000. During the same time period, 52.1 percent of university presidents earned less than $400,000 and 22.1 percent of presidents earned more than $599,000.
Earnings of university presidents, however, can climb much higher than Benton’s. For example, President Richard C. Levin of Yale earned $1,627,649 in 2011, according to the Chronicle, and Stanford’s John L. Hennessy earned $985,569.
At schools in the LA area, Benton’s compensation is also comparable to those of other presidents. According to Form 990s for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, Loyola Marymount’s President David W. Burcham earned $443,249, and USC President Chrysostomos L. Nikias earned $1,316,059.
Pepperdine’s Form 990 also revealed information about university-wide finances. Contributions and grants fell for the 2010-2011 year from $39,144,062 to $28,578,060.
In contrast to the drop in contributions and grants, however, Pepperdine increased tuition last year to $52,596 from $50,470 in 2010-2011. Total revenue for the institution has gone up over the same time period from $364,498,936 to $384,833,405.
Even with the tuition increases, financial aid was also a significant factor in the university finances, with $80,213,459 given out to 4,617 recipients.
