Executive Compensation at the University of Southern California (USC) 2024

The University of Southern California (USC) is a privately funded research university (not publicly funded like many state universities ) and is therefore governed by a board of trustees (as opposed to a state legislature or board of regents) with about 47,000 students (21,000 undergraduate and 26,000 graduate and professional students) in California.

Approximately 80,000 undergraduate students apply annually; 11% or 3,000 are admitted and about 3,500 matriculated.  Annual tuition, room and board is about $100,000 or about $400,000 for a 4-year degree.

When analyzing colleges and universities generally, there are 8 key numbers to look at:

In 2024, USC reported the following information:

• Revenue:  $5.6 billion
• Contributions/Gifts/Grants:  Received $1.3 billion
• Tuition and Fees:  Received $2.5 billion
• Investment Income/Gains/Royalties:  Received $246 million
• Expenses:  $5.5 billion (including $225 million in depreciation)
• Grants:  Awarded $827 million in grants to students
• Net Income:  $37 million
• Net Assets:  $10.3 billion

In other words,  USC took in sufficient income to cover all expenses and make $37 million in 2024 (compared to $43million in 2023 and $518 million in 2022).

When analyzing compensation at colleges and universities, there are 8 key items to look at:

In 2024, USC reported the following information:

• Total Number of Employees:    45,873
• Total Number of Employees Receiving More Than $100,000:  9,293
• Total Compensation:   $3 billion to employees
• Highly Compensated Employees:   35 employees were reported to be highly compensated (see below):
• Did the school pay for first class or charter travel, travel for companions, health or social club dues or initiation fees, personal services, a personal residence or a housing allowance, discretionary spending accounts gross up payments of tax indemnification, or payments for business use of personal residence: USC  reported paying for first class or charter travel, travel for companions, health or social club dues or initiation fees, a personal residence or providing a housing allowance, personal services, and making gross up payments or tax indemnifications;
• Personal loans to employees:   USC reported making 23 housing loans for nearly $20 million to employees with the principal amount $250,000 – $3.8 million and the balance due $80,000 – $3.4 million;
• Most highly compensated independent contractors and how much did they receive: 943 independent contractors received more than $100,000 in compensation (the 5 highest are listed below) and
• Supplemental Retirement Plans: USC participates in supplemental retirement plans (see the Form 990, Schedule J, Part III Supplemental Information for details).

45,873 employees received $3 billion in compensation, or an average of $65,000 in 2024. 9,293  employees received more than $100,000 in compensation with 33 of the most highly compensated reported to be:

• $11,537,560:  Lincoln Riley, Head Football Coach
• $ 4,981,275:  Carol L Folt, President/Trustee
• $ 4,691,107:  Andy Endfield, Men’s Head Basketball Coach
• $ 4,250,000:  Charles Helton, Former Head Football Coach
• $ 4,031,824:  Louis A Vandermolen, Professor of Clinical Medicine
• $ 3,889,780:  Vaughn Starnes, Chair and Dist Professor, Surgery
• $ 3,317,744:  Steven D Shapiro, SVP, Health Affairs
• $ 3,095,208:  Jennifer Cohen, Director of Athletics (as of 8/22/23)
• $ 2,347,640:  Rod Hanners, CEO, Keck Medicine of USC
• $ 1,975,902:  Amy Diamond, Chief Investment Officer
• $ 1,659,286:  Carolyn Meltzer, Dean, School of Medicine
• $ 1,525,314:  Felicia A Washington, SVP, HR
• $ 1,510,140:  Beong-S00 Kim, SVP, General Counsel
• $ 1,448,929:  Erik Brink, SVP, Finance and CFO
• $ 1,281,250:  Geoffrey Garrett, Dean, Marshall School of Business
• $ 1,192,059:  Charles F Zukoski, Former Provost and SVP
• $ 1,113,830:  Andrew Guzman, Provost and SVP
• $ 1,057,316:  Ishwar K Puri, SVP, Research and Innovation
• $ 1,036,992:  Scott Rabenold, SVP, University Advancement
• $   975,481:  Laura Mosqueda, Professor of Family Medicine and Geriatrics
• $   898,700:  David W Wright, SVP, Administration
• $   884,586:  Chrysostomos L Nikias, Former President and Professor of Engineering and Classics
• $   806,603:  Elizabeth Graddy,Former Interim Provost and SVP
• $   792,401:  Amber Miller, Dean
• $   754,559:  Samuel Garrison, SVP, University Relations
• $   718,452  Michael Quick, Former Provost and SVP, Academic Affairs
• $   701,850:  Tracey Vranich, Former SVP
• $   694,675:  Yannis C Yortsos, Dean, Viterbi School of Engineering
• $   658,442:  James M Staten, Former SVP, Finance and CFO
• $   534,484:  Carolyn Domen-Broshears, Secretary
• $   530,352:  Joel Curran, SVP, Chief Communications Officer
• $   513,544  Glenn Osaki, Senior Advisor, International Marketing and Communications
• $   481,381:  Narsing Rao, Former Interim Dean, Keck Medicine of USC

The 33 highly compensated employees listed above received $66 million in compensation.  23 0f the 33 (70%) most highly compensated employees are male while 10 of the 33 (30%) are female.  The most highly compensated employee was Lincoln Riley, the head football coach who received nearly $12 million in 2024.

USC paid for first class or charter travel, personal services (i.e maid, chauffeur, chef), health or social club dues or initiation fees, housing allowances or residence for personal use, gross up payments or tax indemnificaitions.  For detail on these expenses, see the Form 990, Schedule J, Part III, Supplemental Information.

USC made 23 housing loans to 15 employees totaling $31 million with the balance due at nearly $24 million.  See the Form 990, Schedule L, Part II, Loans to and From Interested Persons for more details.

943 independent contractors received more than $100,000 in 2024. The 5 most highly compensated were reported to be:

• $50 million:  2U Inc, of LA, CA for on-line education service
• $23 million:  Matt Construction, of Santa Fe Springs, CA for construction services
• $19 million:  Deloitte Consulting, of Hermitage, TN for consulting
• $23 million:  Smith Group, of LA, CA for engineering/architectural services
• $72 million:  The Turner Corp, of NY, NY for construction services

To read the Form 990 (2023 for the year ending June 30, 2024), click here.