Most Md. university system presidents to get raises. Here’s how much.

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It may be lonely at the top, but there are some perks.

Leadership at eleven of the 12 University System of Maryland institutions will be getting raises in the coming fiscal year, most of no more than 3.5 percent.

University of Maryland, College Park President Wallace Loh is getting the largest increase of $73,723, or 14 percent, bringing his total fiscal 2017 salary up to $600,314, according to data provided by the university system.

The biggest overall earner is University of Maryland, Baltimore President Dr. Jay Perman, whose $859,923 salary for the coming year, a 3.5 percent raise, also covers his work as a practicing physician.

Perman, a pediatric gastroenterologist, continues to see patients each week at a special clinic that teaches collaborative, team-based health care not only to medical students but to those studying pharmacy, dentistry, law and social work, according to the university.

Physicians who teach at the medical school generally receive about two-thirds of their compensation from their medical practice work, said Mike Lurie, a spokesman for the university system.

While most faculty physicians receive professional fees directly tied to their clinical work, Perman’s clinical work is taken into consideration when his salary is set by the regents, said Alex Likowski, a UMB spokesman.

Frostburg State University President Ronald Nowaczyk is the only president who won’t be getting a raise next year, but he’s also the most recent to join the pack. He took office in May, earning a salary of $275,000 per year.

The USM presidents are not eligible for bonuses, Lurie wrote in an email.

Presidents’ salaries reflect how successful they’ve been in achieving goals – tailored to each president and institution – set by the USM chancellor, who conducts twice-yearly performance reviews.

Those reviews are then vetted in closed meetings of the university system’s Board of Regents, which uses salary data from comparable institutions across the country to make sure the presidents’ compensation is within a competitive range, according to the university system.

Maryland’s Open Meetings Act allows public bodies such as the Board of Regents to discuss personnel matters – such as compensation and performance reviews – behind closed doors. Salary information for the presidents is made available upon request, but the performance reviews remain confidential, according to Lurie.

The national median salary for presidents and CEOs of a single campus is $267,811 for public institutions and $317,504 for private institutions, according to a 2016 survey of higher education administrators conducted by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, one of the sources that the USM regents consult when making compensation decisions.