DATE: Monday, October 20, 1997              TAG: 9710200048

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   45 lines

RICHMOND, HAMPTON COLLEGES PAY LEADERS WELL

University of Richmond President Richard L. Morrill tops Virginia's private college pay charts, earning nearly $256,000 in salary and benefits in 1995-96, a survey released Sunday showed.

Hampton University's William R. Harvey, who received nearly $205,000 in total compensation in 1995-96, is second. Harvey's $172,200 salary, not including his $32,718 in benefits, was up nearly 5 percent from the $164,000 paid in 1994-95, the Chronicle of Higher Education found.

Morrill was paid $210,473 in 1995-96 - a 6 percent increase over his $198,313 salary for 1994-95.

Morrill also received $45,058 in benefits, the largest supplement recorded among Virginia's private schools but far below the six-figure packages received by the top college earners nationally.

Nationally, the average pay at comprehensive universities, which include Richmond and Hampton, was $140,529.

Nationally, John A. Curry, former president of Northeastern University in Boston, led with $995,358 in total compensation.

The Chronicle's analysis of executive pay at 477 private colleges and universities is based on the schools' 1995-96 tax returns, the most recent available.

More than a dozen Virginia private colleges were included in the national survey, which found that presidential pay generally increased faster than inflation.

Around Virginia, presidential compensation ranged from a high of $255,531 at the University of Richmond to $81,028 at tiny Christendom College in Front Royal.

Washington and Lee University President John W. Elrod was the third-highest-paid among those surveyed, receiving $177,433 in total compensation. Fourth was Shenandoah University President James A. Davis, with $175,500.

Most presidents at Virginia's private colleges received compensation between $140,000 and $155,000.

At Marymount University in Arlington, Sister Eymard Gallagher, the president, donated her entire $132,470 salary to her religious order. KEYWORDS: COLLEGE UNIVERISTY SALARY PRESIDENT

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