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“If we don’t pay competitive salaries, then I don’t have the help I need to move the university forward,” Hanson said. “We’re very much in the ballpark. Hamline salaries are very competitive.”

The reported salaries may seem high, but if they were decreased students would not physically see the excess money. Classroom improvements and capital enhancements for the university, changes that students would notice, come from a completely different fund. These funds come from a capital long-range plan, which attempts to compensate for depreciation in value, President Hanson said.

Essentially, new amenities, like added technologies, depreciate a little bit every year. Hamline keeps track of these depreciations and replenishes that money into the fund for later use.

It’s a constant flow, Hanson said; as these items depreciate they pull money from somewhere else. “A lot of institutions don’t [replenish depreciations] that way,” she said. “The physical facilities are always being replenished every year.”

Salaries are paid out of tuition, gifts, and other auxiliary income. The fund for upper-administration salaries is completely different from the fund that improves campus. “It’s a whole different financial organization than salaries,” Hanson said.

Salaries are decided by different factors. They are set at such a level in order to attract skilled individuals for the position. Hamline pays for the experience and ability to serve the university. A candidate’s experience level also aids in the compensation decision, Vice President of Finance Doug Anderson said.

All salaries will be re-evaluated at the end of this year based on “key performance indicators,” which are goals Hanson has designated to hold all administrators, including herself, accountable to the board. She will sit with what she calls the senior team, which consists of the upper-level administrators, and make sure all their goals line up. She said they will discuss “what are we all working toward and how are we judged. A lot of factors go into how we compensate people,” Hanson said.

The salaries for this year are already set “about where we need to be,” she said.

Anderson said the Board of Trustees wants “quality, competent leadership, for the fulfillment of Hamline’s mission and leadership.” That means paying a competitive salary. “We use an extensive marketplace analysis” in order to find comparable salaries, he said.

A general salary range is decided first, and then it is fine-tuned based on the candidate’s experience level. Raises are given based on evaluations; there is a performance-based compensation system for all staff and faculty, Anderson said.

“The Board is very committed to ensure there is appropriate compensation,” he said, but ultimately, the final decision comes down to Hanson.

The salary for the president is determined by the Board of Trustees. The Board also hires the president, a process which Hamline went through last year as Larry Osnes retired.

One change President Hanson made from last year was in the salary of the Vice President of Academic Affairs. She said she felt Garvin Davenport was underpaid because he was doing two jobs. The compensation was “considerably lower” than comparable positions, she said. “We need to have parity,” among the other schools, Hanson said, and the Academic Affairs Vice President is typically one of the top two or three paid positions, while at Hamline it is fifth.

The vice president positions are based on accountability, Hanson said. “These positions are very important,” Hanson said. “It’s a very accountable system.” Anderson agreed, and said the quality of the administrators has a great impact on the quality of the university, which in turn affects the students.