University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman donates $17.6K raise to scholarships

The raise amounted to a 3 percent increase in base pay, bringing her base salary to $603,357.

"I am very well compensated," Coleman said as she donated the raise, which was approved by the U-M Board of Regents during a meeting Thursday.

She also received a 2.75 percent raise in September 2011, and donated it to a scholarship fund that year as well.

Coleman earned $933,000 in compensation and benefits in 2011, according to information obtained by AnnArbor.com through a Freedom of Information Act.

In addition to her base salary, she earns a $100,000 yearly retention bonus, $175,000 in annual deferred compensation and $50,000 in annual retirement pay. She also receives the use of a car and residence.

"We’ve looked at all the publications, the benchmarking, what's being done, best practices etcetera... the base salary of the president is certainly not out of line in terms of being too high," said regent S. Martin Taylor. "If anything it is too low."

Coleman was the fifth-highest-paid public college president in the U.S. during the 2010-11 academic year, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education survey.

Coleman also serves on the executive boards of Johnson & Johnson and Meredith Corporation. She took home $425,400 in 2011 for her service on those two boards, according to a Chronicle database derived from U.S. Exchange Commission filings.

Since Coleman began as president in 2002, her base pay has grown by more than $127,000.