Fairfield University’s declining admission rate, from over 60 percent in 2018 to 25 percent, has made the university the fifth most selective Catholic institution in the nation, surpassing well-known schools like Villanova and Loyola Marymount.

The accolade has been widely celebrated by university officials, including President Mark Nemec, who recently shared the fact in an interview with WVOF Sports.

While the university’s academic rankings have gone down over the past years and officials are comparing the university with some of the most recognized institutions in the nation, a new Mirror analysis found that salaries at Fairfield University have not seen a significant increase compared to other selective Catholic universities.

The analysis of the average nine-month-equivalent salaries of the six most selective Catholic institutions, including the University of Notre Dame (9%), Georgetown University (12%), Boston College (12.6%), College of the Holy Cross (17%) and Villanova University (27%), reveals that Fairfield faculty are paid almost 14% less compared to the median average salaries of the selective Catholic schools.

The median average salary of the six most selective Catholic universities for the 2023-2024 academic year was $136,672, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education data.  Meanwhile, Fairfield’s average all-rank faculty salary was $116,976.

According to information from the Department of Education, average salaries at Fairfield for associate professors were $114,000, while assistant professors had an average salary of about $98,000.

Instructor professors, usually faculty members who don’t have a doctorate (Ph.D) and are often non-tenured, earned an average salary of $84,000 during the past academic year.

Recently, compensation for non-tenured faculty members has become an issue of discussion for faculty members after the Academic Council did not reach a two-thirds majority needed to implement a new pathway for promotion for non-tenure track faculty.

While faculty salaries at Fairfield appear to be lower than those of fellow selective Catholic universities, data indicate that the trend is also present with the university’s highest official. 

According to public data from the IRS, President Mark Nemec received a total compensation package of around $830,000 in 2022, a 13% increase from 2021. Nemec’s $830,000 total compensation made him the 112th highest-paid president in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Higher-Ed Pay Tracker.

However, President Mark Nemec, who is in his eighth year as the university president, had a slightly lower compensation than Holy Cross’ president Vincent Rougeau, who was paid $875,000 during his second year on the job. 

Out of the six Catholic universities, only Holy Cross, Fairfield and Georgetown had a lay university president. Georgetown University’s president was compensated with over $1.1 million.

While faculty salaries at Fairfield appear to be lower than those of fellow selective Catholic universities, the average salary for faculty was just 10 percent more than the median salaries of 12 other universities Fairfield selected for the IPEDS comparison, which is a system of data from surveys collected by the U.S. Department of Education.

The IPEDS comparable institutions included Bentley University, Boston College, Holy Cross, Fordham, Loyola Maryland, Marist College, Providence College, Quinnipiac University, Saint Joseph’s University, Stonehill College, The College of New Jersey and Villanova.

Nationwide, the average all-rank college professor at a private four-year institution made over $104,000.

Salary and spending information is not public because of the university’s status as a private institution. Nonetheless, the IRS makes information about the university’s revenue, expenses, and other relevant financial information available through Form 990, which all nonprofits must file. 

The most recent publicly available form covers information from July 2022 to June 2023, when Fairfield’s admit rate was over 50%. The new Form 990, with information about university spending during the 2023-2024 academic year, is expected to be released in late May.