Penn State President Graham Spanier will make $492,000 this year, according to an article being published today in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Jeff Selingo, The Chronicle's business and politics editor, said The Chronicle requested the information from Spanier while compiling its annual report on university presidents' salaries.

"[Penn State spokesman] Steve MacCarthy told us that President Spanier said he felt it was an important thing to do," Selingo said. "He said Spanier consulted with the Board [of Trustees] after receiving our request, and both him and the board agreed to release the information."

Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig said the release of Spanier's salary is not unprecedented.

"It's been done from time to time in the past," he said. "In the spirit of openness, President Spanier made the decision to release it this year."

Selingo said it has been difficult in the past for The Chronicle to get Spanier's salary information.

"They have refused our request based on their belief that the salary is not public record," he said. "They also don't file a Form 990 with the IRS. Temple and Pitt also refused to give [the salary], but they supply the Form 990."

The Form 990 is a financial document that some universities submit to the Internal Revenue Service, often showing the salaries of top administrators.

According to Selingo, Spanier has the fifth highest salary out of 11 Big Ten universities. The highest paid university president in the Big Ten is Mary Sue Coleman of the University of Michigan, who makes $724,000. The lowest is David J. Skorton of the University of Iowa at $309,250. Judy G. Hample, chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, earned $320,913 in 2004-05.

Kendig said Spanier does not have to release his salary every year because the university maintains a policy that employees' salaries are confidential. The last year Spanier's salary was made public was in 1999, when it was $379,516, plus $15,715 in benefits and deferred compensation, and $4,258 in expense compensation.

Kendig said the release is not related to the lawsuit by the Harrisburg Patriot-News requesting the salaries of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, Penn State budget officer Richard Althouse,

Penn State Vice President and Provost Rodney Erickson and Penn State Senior Vice President of Finance Gary Schultz.

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said the increase in Spanier's salary since 1999 is not unreasonable because the university's operating budget has also increased during that time. For 2005-06, the budget is about $3.05 billion; for 1998-99, the last time Spanier's salary information was made available, the budget was about $1.5 billion.

Cynthia Baldwin, chairwoman of the Board of Trustees, said the board has set criteria when considering a salary increase.

"We consider the goals that the president has set for himself, whether those goals have been met, what he's going to be doing long-range, and what the president is looking forward to doing," she said.

Baldwin said a committee of the Board of Trustees, made up of the chair, the vice chair, the immediate past chair and the chairman of the finance and physical plant committee, is responsible for raising Spanier's salary.

"We do an annual review of the president; we ask for all the trustees to participate," Baldwin said. "We [the committee] sit down and consider all the board feedback, then we determine whether they'll be any salary increase."

Paul Fain, a reporter for The Chronicle, said Spanier's salary is comparable to those of other university presidents.

"It is certainly in line with what one would expect," Fain said. "For a large prestigious university, it's pretty much on par."

Fain said the $492,000 figure does not include benefits but said MacCarthy told The Chronicle he was not aware of any deferred compensation.