(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – The Nittany Lion logo taken before an NCAA college football game between Penn State and Delaware, Sept. 9, 2023, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger, File)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(University Park, PA) Last week, the board of Penn State University in University Park took a vote of 34-1 to increase the compensation package of Neeli Bendapudi, the president of Penn State University. Bendapudi is now earning $1.4 million a year in base salary, which went up from her previous base salary amount of $950,000 a year. Bendapudi became the second highest paid president of a public university in the United States with that increase of her base salary. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, in base pay, Bendapudi is behind Jay Hartzell, the president of the University of Texas at Austin, and in front of Michael Ray Williams, the president of the University of North Texas system. An automatic 3.5% increase of money per year until 2032 will be given to Bendapudi. $525,000 a year from fiscal year 2025 to fiscal year 2032 is what Bendapudi’s completion/retention payment will increase to. The previous supplemental retirement plan of Bendapudi of $555,000 will now go up to the present supplemental retirement plan of $650,000. On the condition that Bendapudi meets “mutually approved goals,” her annual performance bonus will be set at up to 15% of her base pay.