Quinnipiac University’s 2022-2023 fiscal year 990 tax documentation obtained by The Chronicle showed an increase in salaries and a return of study abroad opportunities investments.
The Internal Revenue Service requires all tax-exempt organizations to file Form 990 to provide the IRS with their annual returns — including non-profit universities like Quinnipiac.
The documentation reveals information about the period from July 1, 2022 until June 30, 2023.
Here’s what the document revealed:
EMPLOYEE SALARIES
The most notable change from the 2021 2022 fiscal year is in the top employee’s salaries, each of which still earned more than $270,000. Unlike other reports on the form, salaries are measured by calendar not fiscal year.
President Judy Olian crossed back over the 1 million mark, earning over $1,160,000 in her fifth year as the university’s leader — an over $180,000 increase since the previous year. Olian has announced her retirement at the beginning of this academic year.
Olian wasn’t the highest-paid university leader in the state, as a comparison, Fairfield University’s President Mark Nemec earned almost $858,000 and Yale University’s President Peter Salovey’s paycheck totaled over $2,318,000, according to their respective 990s.
Quinnipiac’s total enrollment for the fall of the 2022-2023 academic year was 8,918 undergraduate and graduate students. Fairfield had 6,019 and Yale totaled 14,776 students.
The second highest earner for Quinnipiac was once again former men’s basketball head coach Baker Dunleavy, who resigned in April 2023 after accepting a position at Villanova University. In his last year at his post, Dunleavy earned over $800,000 — over $30,000 more than the previous year despite the team having a worse record.
Even though the position of the Dean of School of Medicine has always appeared in the top earners for the university, it fell out of it for a year after a leadership change. In July 2021, Phillip Boiselle took over the position from the founding dean Bruce Keoppen.
Boiselle earned almost $640,000 in his second year.
And in the year of the national championship title, men’s hockey head coach Rand Pecknold saw an over $50,000 raise.
The top four highest paid University employees is closed out by Elicia Spearman, former general counsel and vice president for human resources. Spearman resigned in April of this year to become the Girl Scouts of Connecticut’s next chief executive officer, despite being in the top five for the last two reported years.
Chief Financial Officer Mark Varholak and Provost Debra Liebowitz both saw an increase in their paychecks as well.
Former President Emeritus John Lahey was the only one from the top earners who actually lost a small amount from his previous earnings.
EXPENSES, REVENUE AND ASSETS
Quinnipiac’s expenses rose 2.04% from the previous fiscal year, with 0.3% reported as executive compensation and 27.6% as other salaries and wages.
The university’s expenses steadily increase with the years, at least for the last 10 reported years.
But so have its total assets — with the exception of the 2021-2022 fiscal year — sitting at $1.89 billion.
Total assets are things that companies possess and that have or create value, which can include cash, short-term investments, long-term investments, property and equipment. Revenue is money flowing into a company for providing goods and services to its customers, according to The Motley Fool.
Speaking of which, Quinnipiac’s filling also indicated that the university’s net revenue was just above $41 million. So while its revenue increased from the previous fiscal year where it fell by 8%, the university actually earned less this fiscal year.
To stay with the comparisons, Fairfield reported an income of just under $40 million while Yale was out there with over $700 million.
FOREIGN INVESTMENTS
Quinnipiac once again reported over $50 million in foreign investments in Central America and the Caribbean.
The university also invested almost $1,100,000 in study abroad opportunities for its students across the globe, a significant increase from the previous year that was still plagued by the COVID-19 quarantine rules about travel.
Quinnipiac University officials have not responded to The Chronicle’s attempts for a statement.
