New College of Florida is continuing efforts this summer to become, they say, “one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country.”
On Wednesday, the college’s Presidential Search Committee approved a new salary range for the president in hopes of attracting a candidate who will achieve this goal.
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Richard Corcoran, as New College’s interim president, has a base salary of $699,000.
But the new base salary range unanimously approved by New College’s Presidential Search Committee suggests the next president could have a base salary as high as $868,000 or as low as $487,000.
Committee member Robert Allen, who is also a New College alum and former trustee, said the president’s pay should account for the role’s high expectations.
“The job is going to be incredibly complex,” he said. “It’s not complex in terms of size, but it’s complex in terms of goals.”
The consulting company Mercer analyzed 13 institutions similar to New College and compared the pay their presidents receive. Representatives from Mercer then shared their findings at the search committee’s meeting on Wednesday.
The institutions from the analysis are private, even though New College is currently a part of Florida’s State University System. Search committee member Alan Levine said this makes sense because New College is becoming more like a private institution.
“We’re competing for the same pool of talent that those institutions are,” he said.
Trustee Matthew Spalding said, as of Wednesday afternoon, there were 57 applicants for the president role at New College.
The proposed salary range will move forward to New College’s Board of Trustees and will be presented, and put to a vote, at their meeting this afternoon.
