According to a new survey from the Chronicle of Higher Education, thirty private college presidents received more than $1 million in total compensation in 2008, up from twenty-three the previous year.

The annual survey, which examined the compensation of nearly 450 college presidents, found that, as in previous years, the top earners included a number who received large payouts after stepping down. For example, the highest paid executive in the survey, Touro College president Bernard Lander, received nearly $4.8 million in compensation in 2008-09. Lander, who founded Touro as a Jewish college in 1970 and presided over its growth into an operation with thirty-one schools and colleges, was awarded $4.2 million in deferred compensation after the board determined he had been underpaid compared to presidents at similar institutions. Lander died in February. Similarly, the highest-paid sitting president, R. Gerald Turner of Southern Methodist University, received nearly $2.8 million in total compensation as a result of a life-insurance policy he cashed out.

Experts predict that large one-time awards will continue to drive the list of top-earning presidents. Indeed, the majority of private college presidents are baby boomers headed toward retirement, and many can expect to receive large payouts. Raymond D. Cotton, a lawyer who specializes in executive contracts, predicts that compensation for college presidents will continue to rise as colleges increasingly look to the for-profit world for experienced board members and chief executives.

"Presidential compensation has been shooting up because of a disparity between supply and demand in the marketplace," said Cotton. "There continues to be a greater demand for people who can do these jobs well than there is a supply."