NEW YORK (U-WIRE) -- America's most richly paid personalities come from all walks of life. NBA stars, corporate CEOs, and contemporary music icons pull in millions of dollars each year.

In sharp contrast, professionals working in the education sector have seldom been known for their high salaries. But Columbia University President Lee Bollinger now earns $638,250 annually, proving that old perceptions may soon be out of date.

Some have argued that these earnings are unnecessarily inflated. Others have said that the job description for university presidents has broadened greatly in the past decade, and that they should be compensated for taking on more and managing institutions that often resemble for-profit organizations.

"There is too little information in the public arena about how university presidents are selected and compensated," said presidential contract lawyer Raymond Cotton in a live forum hosted by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

"The media tends to focus on the numbers, which tell only part of the story. Universities need and deserve the best possible leadership that our society can produce," he said. "While the compensation levels of some presidents appear very high in the abstract, as one measures these against their levels of responsibilities and compensation for similar positions in other fields such as health care and the private sector, they begin to look more reasonable."

But the numbers, which have climbed dramatically in recent years, are still important.

In 1996, only one president of a private university made more than $500,000 annually. Last year, exactly 50 presidents surpassed the half-million dollar mark, with five earning $1 million or more.

President Donald Ross of Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. tops the charts, bringing in a total of $5,042,315 in salary and benefits. Other members of the million-dollar club include the presidents of Wilmington College ($1,370,973), Vanderbilt ($1,326,786), Boston University ($1,253,352), and Middlebury ($1,213,141).

In the Ivy League, the University of Pennsylvania's Judith Rodin was the only leader to make the top 10 list of most well-paid presidents of private institutions. Rodin earned $986,915 in salary and annual compensation during the 2004 fiscal year, compared to Yale President Richard Levin's $715,212 and Harvard President Lawrence Summers'

$554,098.

Even though hiring and retaining college executives has become increasingly competitive in recent years, not everyone believes there is adequate justification for the rising salaries.

The American Association of University Professors contends that presidential incomes should be far more similar to typical faculty salaries. According to the group, the drastic increases since the late nineties are "a further indication that a more corporate organizational hierarchy is emerging in colleges and universities, in potential conflict with the mission of institutions of higher education to operate for the benefit of society as a whole."

Even at Columbia, the salary increases are apparent. In 2003, President Bollinger earned $611,111, $27,000 less than he earns today.

Roger Bowen, General Secretary of the AAUP, warned that "high pay may reflect a presumption that presidential leadership is more important than education itself."

"The time has arrived to protect the academy from sinking more deeply into the ethically marshy corporate-like world," Bowen said. "We can rescue higher education from the inflated presidential compensation packages that are now spiraling out of control."