University President Michael Schill earned $1,683,023 in total compensation in 2023, according to tax returns filed this year by Northwestern.
As stated in NU’s Form 990 filings, Schill, who recently announced his resignation, earned $405,139 in 2022. He began his presidency in September of that year.
The Daily analyzed public tax records from NU and other top 10 universities to compare the salaries of top administrators. All data excludes deferred compensation.
Schill’s compensation is in line with other presidents of top universities. Out of the top 10 private universities’ presidents on U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 Best National University Rankings, Schill earned the seventh highest amount.
Of those 10 presidents, each earned more than $1 million, except Stanford University’s Richard Saller, who earned $825,853. Johns Hopkins University President Ron Daniels made the most, at $3,651,658, in 2022.
The Internal Revenue Service’s public database and the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer do not contain 2025 Form 990 filings for Johns Hopkins and the California Institute of Technology, at the time of publication. The Daily obtained Caltech’s filings from its communications office. Johns Hopkins did not provide its filings by the time of publication.
Schill’s compensation also aligns with that of other presidents’ in their first partial or full year, such as Saller ($825,853), Harvard University’s former President Claudine Gay ($1,362,955) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sally Kornbluth ($1,804,308).
The IRS requires nonprofit organizations to report the compensation of certain officers, directors, individual trustees, key employees and highest-compensated employees each year. The 37 employees listed on NU’s 990 filing earned a total of about $40.1 million — about 2.4% of the $1.68 billion paid to its more than 27,000 employees in 2023.
In 2022, the 35 employees listed on NU’s 990 filing earned a total of $43.5 million.
Some administrators, professors earn big
On Sept. 4, Schill, announced his resignation amid federal pressure to take additional measures to fight antisemitism. Five days later, the Board of Trustees announced that former University President Henry S. Bienen will assume the role of interim president Sept. 16.
Before his resignation, Schill was on track to match his predecessor, former University President Morton Schapiro. In 2010, Schapiro’s first full year as president, he earned about $1.76 million in total compensation, adjusting for inflation. Schapiro, however, raked in about $4.90 million in 2022, which made him one of the highest paid university presidents in the country.
Despite his September 2022 departure, Schapiro earned about $1.88 million as president emeritus in 2023.
Excluding Schapiro, five other NU employees outearned Schill in 2023: former football coach Pat Fitzgerald ($4,172,736), who was fired in July 2023; men’s basketball coach Chris Collins ($3,831,525); VP and Chief Investment Officer Amy Falls ($2,897,665); Kellogg Professor Mohanbir Sawhney ($2,393,280); and Managing Director of Absolute Return Peter Belytschko ($1,702,218).
Sawhney, NU’s highest-paid professor in 2023, is a prominent author and consultant who directs NU’s Center for Research in Technology & Innovation.
The second-highest-paid professor was chemistry Prof. Chad Mirkin, who earned approximately $1.46 million in 2023. Mirkin is a renowned nanoscientist who holds more than 400 patents, according to his website.
The University did not respond to multiple requests for comment regarding the criteria for determining administrator salaries and whether the University would adjust salaries amid ongoing financial woes.
Several employees of NU-affiliated organizations also had salaries that eclipsed Schill’s.
Northwestern Medicine’s Dean Harrison, who chairs the board of directors, earned $6,115,400 in 2023. NU Medicine President and CEO Howard Chrisman earned $4,996,700, while Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute Executive Director Patrick McCarthy took home $2,943,463.
Meanwhile, Thomas Shanley, president and CEO of the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, earned $2,532,881, and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab President and CEO Peggy Kirk earned $4,269,126, in 2023.
Changing tides
While NU faces unprecedented financial challenges this year, in 2023, the University’s financial position remained steady. The endowment ebbed from $14.1 billion to $13.7 billion in fiscal year 2023 — a mere blip in a fund that has more than doubled since 2010 and increased to $14.3 billion by August 2024, according to NU’s most recent annual endowment report.
The University’s operating budget was more than $3 billion in 2023, ending with a small surplus of just $8.6 million. The margin bounced back in 2024, as NU closed the year $54.6 million in the green.
At a January meeting of NU’s Faculty Senate, some faculty members expressed concern with their salaries, which, according to a Daily analysis, are competitive among Association of American Universities member institutions but have recently lagged behind inflation.
During the 2023-24 academic year, NU paid faculty members an average of $201,900 across all ranks — ranking ninth among AAU member universities.
In January, NU Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Amanda Distel cited the University’s goal to avoid a budget deficit in response to faculty concerns.
‘An uncertain future’
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, his administration has increasingly targeted elite universities, which White House officials believe require more “viewpoint diversity,” according to an April letter the administration sent to Harvard.
Among other measures, the Trump administration’s April decision to freeze $790 million in funding for NU has already led to research center closures, halted studies and more. Schill also mentioned federal threats in his resignation announcement.
Citing restrictions on enrolling international students, threats to federal research funding and increases to the endowment tax set to take effect next year, NU has already taken drastic measures: freezing faculty and staff hiring and eliminating 425 existing staff positions.
The latter measure could reduce NU’s spending on personnel costs by 5%, which could save the University about $91.6 million annually, based on data from NU’s 2024 financial report. That year, salaries, wages and benefits accounted for about 56% of the University’s operating expenses.
Board of Trustees Chair Peter Barris told the Faculty Senate in April that drawing from the University’s endowment is a “last resort.”
The financial uncertainty caused by recent federal actions could force NU’s hand. In a June interview with The Daily, Schill said a budget deficit would cause the University to either turn to debt or to the endowment.
“Neither one are great options,” he said.
The compensation of NU’s highest paid employees in calendar year 2025 will likely not be publicly available until 2027.
Email: [email protected]
Bluesky: @isaiahsteinberg
Related Stories:
— Northwestern administration announces hiring freeze, academic permanent budget reductions
— Northwestern to eliminate more than 400 staff positions amid ‘mounting financial pressures’
