CCRI President Paid Over $100K More than Average Comm. College

Thursday, December 05, 2013

Kate Nagle, GoLocal Contributor

CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale, who began his tenure in 2006 with a salary of $180,000, has for the past three years had an annual salary of $265,000 and a total compensation package including health and retirement of over $370,000 due to his dual role as interim commissioner of higher education -- at the time.

However, due to the reorganization of the state's education boards into the one Board of Education, Di Pasquale's most recent contract is solely for his duties at CCRI -- at the same pay level as when Di Pasquale serving as commissioner as well.

The recent GoLocal investigation into spending at CCRI by GoLocal has uncovered that over $50,000 has been spent since 2006 to maintain the president's pool -- and the privately-funded CCRI Foundation has underwritten over $20,000 in entertaining at the University Club.

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See CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale's Annual Compensation Levels BELOW

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Clark Greene with the Board of Education said that Di Pasquale is continuing to be compensated at the level he received while serving as both President of CCRI -- and Commissioner of Higher Education.

"In 2010, President Di Pasquale was being recruited by a community college in New York. The Board of Governors negotiated a bump in pay to $265,000 and subsequently asked him to serve as interim commissioner," said Green. "President Di Pasquale’ s current contract, approved unanimously by the Board of Governors, was signed in November of 2012, and was solely for his services as President of CCRI."

Former state administrator and RIPEC Director Gary Sasse, who is the founding director of the Hassenfeld Institute for Public Leadership at Bryant University, said, "It is hard to comment on the President’s salary level without having comparable data from peer institutions. It would appear somewhat unorthodox for a person to be compensated based on doing two jobs and to retain the same level of pay if one of the jobs and its responsibilities are eliminated "

College admissions advisor and GoLocal Mindsetter Cristiana Quinn, however, questioned the compensation level in light of the circumstances -- and national norm.

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CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale's house on campus has seen over $350,000 in spending of upkeep since 2006.

"While it is important to adequately compensate the best and the brightest to lead our education efforts, we also need to set a proper example for low income students who are struggling to afford CCRI. According to the American Association of Community Colleges, the reported median salary for Community College CEOs in 2012 was $167,000. We have a tiny community college system compared to most states. So, I think we have to question if this level of compensation is warranted, and if this is the right message to send to students and taxpayers."

CCRI, which serves close to 18,000 students, lists currently an in-state tuition of $197 per credit with fees for spring 2014, and for out of state, $522 per credit. for fall. According to the recent budget submission to the state, the average annual tuition is $4,200.

Di Pasquale's achievements listed on the CCRI website include "spearheading the college’s first capital campaign, which raised more than $5 million toward improvements to the library, dental lab and theater."

A 2012 report however showed that for the 2010-2011 school year, CCRI’s three-year graduation rate was just 9.6 percent, ranking Rhode Island No. 48 in the country when it comes to graduation rates from two-year institutions.

Matthew Segal, founder of OurTime, a national youth advocacy organization, said, "I have trouble with the "compensating top talent" argument, it's hypocritical. What's interesting is that there's constantly an argument that if you're an executive, the only way to incentive you is to keep paying you more and more."

"Why doesn't it hold for true the minimum wage worker in that case? There have only been small incremental increases at the state levels to barely keep pace with the cost of living," said Segal. "Where's the incentive there for hard work?" Segal asked if it wasn't a dichotomy. "For one class of people -- high pay and great amenities applies -- and a well-provided lifestyle is totally expected," he continued.

Reorganization Eliminates Position, College Costs Grow

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With the reorganization of the state's Department of Education, Greene reported to the Board of Education in October that there was no budget proposed for the Office of Higher Education for FY15. The office will continue to operate through the end of fiscal year 2014 until a new administrative structure is established.

Greene announced at the October 7 meeting that some of the staff with the Office of Higher Education have transferred within the system. Annie Messier has already transferred to CCRI while Ron Cavallaro will be transferring to CCRI on November 1st. Michael Trainor submitted his resignation from state service effective November 1st.

In September, with Di Pasquale at the helm, CCRI had submitted a FY2015 budget request to the state that again omitted any request to increase tuition or fees, and asked the state for an increase of $3.4 million in funding for over $48 million in funding from the state.

According to a 2012 Bloomberg report, the cost of a college tuition has increased twelve-fold in the past 30 years. Segal said it part that colleges have become "big business" and focused on prestige and rankings.

"The fundamental higher learning experience hasn't changed, but college has become big business," said Segal. "Vendors, stores, building needs, real-estate companies who want to add more contracts to school and the school keeps spending, looking to increase, again, prestige, and rankings."