Aligning Compensation With Mission, Market, and Resources
The Casagrande Institute for Higher Education Effectiveness helps colleges and universities design compensation systems that attract talent, reward performance, and sustain financial health. Whether calibrating presidential pay, refreshing a faculty salary structure, or modernizing staff wage bands, we draw on deep sector knowledge and rigorous analytics to translate market data into strategies that advance institutional mission.
Transparent and Fair Compensation at Every Level
Across leadership, faculty, and staff, transparent and market-informed pay practices send a powerful message about institutional values. Our integrated approach clarifies pay philosophy, identifies valid benchmarks, tests internal equity, scans external opportunities, strengthens compliance, and considers affordability—always guided by one principle: compensate people fairly, competitively, and sustainably in service of mission.
Executive Compensation
Presidents, vice presidents, and other senior leaders guide strategy, manage risk, and represent the institution’s public face. Their compensation must therefore balance competitive positioning, internal equity, and increasing scrutiny from regulators, accreditors, and the public. Our process helps boards gain confidence that executive pay is defensible, mission-aligned, and positioned to retain indispensable talent without inviting donor or media criticism.
Market-anchored benchmarking
We analyze comparison group data (from IPEDS, AAUP, CUPA-HR, IRS Form 990, and proprietary surveys) to establish reasoned positioning within a clearly documented comparison set.
Governance clarity
Working with boards and compensation committees, we craft decision frameworks that align pay philosophy, performance metrics, and accountability.
Regulatory assurance
Our reports satisfy Internal Revenue Code § 4958 intermediate sanctions “rebuttable-presumption” requirements, documenting process, comparability data, and independent review.
Faculty Compensation
Faculty salaries shape recruitment, retention, and academic excellence while signaling the institution’s commitment to internal equity and shared governance. We'll help you create a salary architecture that is competitive, internally coherent, and sufficiently transparent to build faculty trust.
Structure Development
From flexible to rigid, a variety of structure options exist. We take into consideration institutional structure and goals to construct a framework that fits your needs.
Benchmarking
We collaborate with leadership to develop a valid group of comparison institutions, then evaluate market data from IPEDS, AAUP, CUPA-HR, and discipline-specific surveys to establish ranges by rank and discipline.
Cost Analysis
Our process concludes with individual faculty comparisons of current versus structure-determined compensation, the total costs associated with bringing faculty pay to minimums and midpoints, and the amount of current compensation above range maximums.
Staff Compensation
Non-faculty employees keep the campus running and shape the student experience. Wage systems must adapt to evolving labor markets and new pay-transparency statutes. We'll help you develop a modern compensation program that balances fiscal stewardship with the need to recruit and retain skilled professionals across campus.
Job-family frameworks
We map roles into families and levels, creating consistent titles, pay bands, and career pathways.
Market alignment
Regional labor-market surveys inform pay ranges scaled to institutional resources.
Pay-equity maintenance
Ongoing analytics flag compression, inversion, and disparate impact so leaders can intervene before inequities widen.
Move Your Compensation Strategy Forward
Contact us to discuss how we can support your development of compensation strategies and structures designed to attract, reward, and retain mission-focused, high-performing executives, faculty, and staff.
David J. Bauer, Ph.D.
Director
Casagrande Institute for Higher Education Effectiveness
djbauer@viterbo.edu