Although average pay for presidents of public universities across the nation went up last year, UC President Robert C. Dynes’ base salary has not increased since his term began in 2003, according to an annual report released by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

With a base salary of $395,000, Dynes’ pay is below that of presidents at the 20 top-paying public institutions. In addition to his salary, Dynes receives state funding for housing and maintenance expenses totaling $28,666, according to UC Office of the President spokesman Noel Van Nyhuis.

“The president is concerned about market-based compensation lags throughout the university, including for faculty and staff, which is one of the things we’re trying to address through the compact [with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger] and the 2005-06 budget,” Van Nyhuis said.

The number of presidents receiving more than $500,000 in annual pay grew from 12 in 2003 to 17 this year, according to the Chronicle, due to the “increasing competition for leaders with proven executive experience, board members from the business world and the use of pay supplements from private sources.”

Unlike last year, $19,700 of Dynes’ total compensation pay this year will come from private funds provided by nonprofit foundations that raise money for the university, according to Raymond Cotton, a lawyer who specializes in university presidents’ contracts. This supplemented pay is a growing concern among university administrators across the nation because of the undue influence these private foundations may have on the presidents’ decisions, Cotton said.

“If these private foundations are paying the majority of the president’s salary and compensation, of course there will be the question of who the president will be loyal to,” Cotton said.

Because one of the top criteria in choosing a university president is his ability to raise money, there is a concern that presidents may become too focused on “selling” an education to donors rather than seeing the university as a research-based institution for exchanging ideas, American Association of University Professors Director of Research John Curtis said.

“All are still nonprofit organizations with a research mission, but … they tend to focus on that revenue-generating perspective,” Curtis said. “They end up operating more like corporations, and the high level of pay is furthering that trend.”

Dynes ranks 30th out of the 131 university presidents surveyed, receiving $423,666 in total compensation, a drop from the $518,792 he received last year.

However, the Chronicle’s report on the president’s pay “is a little misleading,” according to Van Nyhuis. The drop in Dyne’s pay reflects the publication’s failure to include administrative funds — such as events at the president’s house that are covered by the university — in the total compensation as it did in the past, Van Nyhuis said. However, he said Dynes’ pay was still lower than that of his colleagues at other public universities.

“His compensation is relatively low compared to most large public institutions and certainly low compared to most large private schools,” Van Nyhuis said. “The regents set the president’s salary at the level they believe appropriate to draw the most qualified candidates.”

Despite flat pay for Dynes, decisions by the university to offer significant pay increases to incoming chancellors at several UC campuses in the last several years have stirred controversy, drawing criticism from the union representing the university’s staff.

Even as some administrative wages have gone up, pay for faculty and staff remains stagnant, said Denise Carignan, vice president of UCSD’s Local 5 of the Coalition of University Employees.

“I think that’s great that his salary is not increasing,” Carignan said. “It’s important for these people in these high positions, knowing that the university has been having budget problems for the past two years, to understand that if they’re not raising our pay, they shouldn’t be getting more money either.”

Considering the quality of education in the UC system compared to other universities that pay their presidents more than $500,000 annually, the UC president is underpaid, Cotton said.

“The University of California is honestly one of the best in the nation,” Cotton said. “I think that the UC president ought to be paid at least $500,000, across the board.”