Salaries of university presidents have generally been increasing faster than faculty salaries and the higher-paid presidents can receive salary and benefits packages in the half-million dollar range, according to a report from The Chronicle of Higher Education.

• Three university presidents -- at Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and Pennsylvania -- received pay and benefit packages in excess of $500,000 in the 1996-97 school year.

• Ten more universities paid their presidents between $400,000 and $500,000, and 33 more paid between $300,000 and $400,000.

• Although some faculty members -- particularly in areas like business and medicine -- have six-figure salaries, the average salary and compensation for a full-time faculty member at a private institution was $74,132.

The survey of 475 private universities and colleges did not include public universities, where pay is substantially lower and where about 80 percent of all college students are enrolled.

Source: Karen W. Arenson, "For University Presidents, Higher Compensation Made it a 'Gilded' Year," New York Times, October 18, 1998.