Just two years into his tenure as the university's president, Michigan State University's Board of Trustees voted to nearly double President Kevin Guskiewicz's yearly base salary, despite questions over both the necessity of the raise and how the university would fund it.

During the board’s Sunday special meeting held via Zoom, board members said Guskiewicz was being “aggressively pursued” by other universities. The raise was preventative in nature, members of the board said, and essential to ensuring Guskiewicz remained at the university. 

Prior to the meeting, Guskiewicz’s previously agreed-upon contract expired in 2029 with a base salary of $1,029,210 and an unvested employer award of $200,000 per year. The new contract extends the university president's term through 2031 and raises his base pay to $2 million, with an unvested employer award of $250,000. 

The raise comes at a time when the university has faced numerous budget cuts at the state and federal levels, restricting its operating budget by 9% over the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 fiscal years, drawing criticism from both students and staff. 

The resolution to increase the president's salary by nearly 100% passed 6-1, with trustee Mike Balow dissenting and trustee Rema Vassar abstaining from the vote. 

The State News interviewed two experts specializing in higher education and analyzed public data on what neighboring public Big Ten schools pay their leaders.

Funding source still unclear

Trustee Sandy Pierce, the chair of the committee of budget and finance, said the committee is “working diligently” to source the pay from outside of MSU's general fund. The general fund primarily funds the basic educational and administrative functions of the university. 

As for finding alternative funding sources for the raise, Balow said that the money would "hopefully" be sourced from donors.  

This would be par for the course as other universities typically fund similar raises through donors, said Judith Wilde, a research professor specializing in university presidential compensation at George Mason University.