Number of 6-Figure Employees at State Colleges Goes Up—Way Up

The Nerve’s analysis of a salary database of employees at the state's three research universities earning $50,000 or more, maintained by the S.C. Budget and Control Board (BCB), found that:

• 6,528 employees at the three universities earn at least $50,000, a collective increase of 467, or 7.7 percent, from August 2012;
• 1,683 employees earn $100,000 or more, an increase of 246, or 17.1 percent, from a year ago. Clemson experienced a hike of nearly 37 percent in that category;
• 219 employees earn at least $200,000, an increase of 31, or 16.4 percent, from last year;
• The current average yearly salary of all employees in the database is $89,544, an increase of $2,390, or 2.7 percent, over last year; and
• The total current payroll for $50,000-plus employees at the three universities is $585.54 million, an increase of $56.3 million, or 10.6 percent, compared to August 2012.

Three high-profile sports administrators at USC – head football coach Steve Spurrier, head women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley and Ray Tanner, the university’s athletic director - are among the top 10 highest-paid employees at the three universities, though their salaries listed in the BCB’s database don’t include other types of income, such as media compensation.

For example, Spurrier’s and Staley’s salaries are listed at $350,000 each in the database, though Spurrier’s total annual compensation under his current contract is about $3.3 million – making him one of the 10 highest-paid college football coaches in the country – while Staley will earn $850,000 this year, according to media reports.

Tanner’s listed salary in the BCB database is $525,000 – the highest among all 6,528 employees earning $50,000-plus at the three universities. His total compensation as of March was $675,000, according to media reports.

Similarly, USC President Harris Pastides has the 25th-highest listed salary in the database at $286,200, though his total compensation, including money from the school's educational foundation, was $724,000 as of October, according to a story in The State newspaper.

Outgoing MUSC President Ray Greenberg, who will start a new position next month at the University of Texas, ranked 72nd in the database with a salary of $250,629; his total compensation as of April, excluding deferred compensation, was $755,854, according to The State. Outgoing Clemson President James Barker, who announced in April he was stepping down as president to return to teaching, ranked 83rd in the database with a salary of $245,869, though a February story in The (Rock Hill) Herald said he had received $435,442 in 2011 from the college's foundation and related organizations. 

Following is a list of the 10 highest-paid employees in the BCB’s database:

Read the rest on TheNerve.org.