Take a hard look at top salaries

I AM not sure whether it is poor or perfect timing that the Globe runs University of Massachusetts President Jack Wilson's op-ed "Keeping UMass affordable" only a day after the paper revealed that members of UMass's leadership are among the highest-paid employees in the state (Metro, Feb. 11). The fact that other public university presidents' salaries may be in line with what Massachusetts is paying is of little consolation to families trying to afford college and finding even the "expected family contribution" calculation unreachable.

More troubling than the fact that UMass leaders earn two and three times more than the state's governor is that these salaries are just a way station to the big score: retiring at 80 percent of total compensation (not just salary) for three top-earning years, regardless of plan contribution.

I think UMass students, and alumni like myself, would be more inclined to support a fee increase of $1,500 if our university president were to vocally support real reforms to address the affordability of higher education. How about starting with capping public university presidents' pensions at $100,000, and tying them to contributions, not highest years' salaries?

Pat Kelleher
South Boston

UNIVERSITY OF Massachusetts President Jack Wilson's plan to address the university's budget shortfall appropriately combines spending cuts and fee hikes, but it omits a simple cost-saving option: capping salaries.

A mandatory annual pay ceiling of $200,000 would affect only a few employees, and would save the university $4.3 million. Capping salaries at $150,000 digs deeper into UMass ranks, but saves $12.7 million, more than 10 percent of the projected shortfall. Some quid pro quo (Wilson received $436,000 last year, according to a Globe story) might make the proposed fee hikes more palatable.

Ben Zipperer
Northampton

The writer is a graduate student in economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.