CSUWatch
Documents, not opinions, about the California State University

Compensation · Fiscal years 2006–07 through 2026–27

The chancellor’s raise alone is worth more than three faculty salaries

Since 2006–07, the CSU chancellor’s base salary has grown by $418,000. An assistant professor hired that year at $85,000, receiving only the raises negotiated for all faculty, gained $44,544.

Annual base salary by fiscal year

CSU chancellorAssistant professor, negotiated raises only

Nominal dollars. Excludes housing, auto allowances, deferred compensation, and benefits. Faculty line excludes service step and promotion increases.

Twenty years, two trajectories

ChancellorAsst. professor
Salary, 2006–07$377,000$85,000
Salary, 2026–27$795,000$129,544
Dollar increase+$418,000+$44,544
Cumulative increase+110.9%+52.4%
Average annual growth (compounded)3.80%2.13%

The chancellor earned 4.44 times the professor’s salary in 2006–07. Today the multiple is 6.14. The annual gap between the two salaries has more than doubled, from $292,000 to $665,456.

Two leadership changes drove most of that. Joseph Castro started at $625,000 in January 2021, 30.8% above Timothy White’s $477,771. Mildred García started at $795,000 in October 2023, another 27.2% jump. In both years, faculty received ordinary raises of 4% and 5%.

Faculty have had no base salary increase since July 2024. The CSU has offered a one-time 3% payment for 2025–26 and a 3% raise for 2026–27 that would not be retroactive. The faculty union declared impasse in July 2026, and factfinding is scheduled for November.

Year by year

Percentages show change from the prior fiscal year. ◇ derived from adjacent verified figures. ? unresolved. † last recorded; no base increase found as of September 2026.

Fiscal yearChancellorChancellor salaryChangeAsst. professorChangeRatioGap

Download the data (CSV)

How we built this

Chancellor. Annual base salary approved by the CSU Board of Trustees, from trustee agendas, CSU executive compensation summaries, and contemporaneous reporting. From 2012–13 through 2016–17, Chancellor White’s figures include a $30,000 salary supplement paid by the CSU Foundation, which trustees counted as part of his salary when calculating raises. Charles Reed also received $30,000 a year from the Foundation, but it was described as a retirement supplement, so it is excluded.

Assistant professor. A modeled path, not a real person. The salary starts at $85,000 after the July 1, 2006 general salary increase and then receives only each general salary increase (GSI) negotiated between the CSU and the California Faculty Association. No service steps, promotions, or equity adjustments are added. Most real faculty earn more than this path over 20 years. The model isolates what the CSU chose to give all faculty.

Timing. Each row shows the annual rate in effect on January 1 of that fiscal year, with retroactive actions applied from their effective dates. That is why the 5% raise dated June 30, 2016 appears in 2016–17.

Open items: whether the 7% executive increase approved in September 2022 applied to Interim Chancellor Koester; the exact effective dates of White’s 2016 and 2018 raises; and whether the performance-based executive raises authorized in November 2025 have changed the chancellor’s salary after August 4, 2026.

Sources

  1. California Faculty Association. (2020). CSU approves exorbitant executive salary—again! [Flyer]. https://www.calfac.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/csu-executive-pay-2020.pdf
  2. California State Auditor. (2017). California State University: Report 2016-122. https://information.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2016-122/longdesc.html
  3. California State University. (2026, August 4). CSU executive compensation summary. https://www.calstate.edu/csu-system/transparency-accountability/executive-compensation/Documents/executive-compensation.pdf
  4. California State University Board of Trustees. (2012, November 13). Committee on University and Faculty Personnel: Executive compensation, chancellor. https://www.calstate.edu/csu-system/board-of-trustees/past-meetings/2012/Documents/november-13-2012-university-faculty-personnel.pdf
  5. California State University Board of Trustees. (2022, May 24–25). Committee on University and Faculty Personnel. https://www.calstate.edu/csu-system/board-of-trustees/past-meetings/2022/Documents/UFP-May-24-25-2022.pdf
  6. California State University Board of Trustees. (2022, September 13–14). Committee on University and Faculty Personnel. https://www.calstate.edu/csu-system/board-of-trustees/past-meetings/2022/Documents/UFP-Binder-September-13-14-2022.pdf
  7. California State University, Northridge, Office of Faculty Affairs. (2024). History of faculty salary increases. https://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/History-of-Faculty-Increases-2024-25.pdf
  8. CSU executives awarded pay raises. (2015, July 25). Patch. https://patch.com/california/watsonville/csu-executives-awarded-pay-raises-0
  9. CSU executives to get pay raises despite potential tuition hike, funding gap. (2018, February). The State Hornet. https://statehornet.com/2018/02/csu-executives-to-get-pay-raises-despite-potential-tuition-hike-funding-gap/
  10. California Faculty Association. (2026, October 21). Strike authorization vote FAQs. https://www.calfac.org/resources/strike-authorization-faqs/
  11. California State University. (2026, September 16). CSU bargaining update: Advancing competitive compensation. https://www.calstate.edu/csu-system/faculty-staff/labor-and-employee-relations/Pages/CSU-Bargaining-Update-Multiple-Units-9-16-2026.aspx
  12. Joseph Castro, Fresno State’s president, selected as new CSU chancellor. (2020, September 23). EdSource. https://edsource.org/2020/joseph-castro-fresno-states-president-selected-as-new-csu-chancellor/640484
  13. Top executives are in line for 4% salary hike. (2007, January 23). San Francisco Chronicle. https://www.sfgate.com/education/article/CALIFORNIA-STATE-UNIVERSITY-Top-executives-are-2654867.php
  14. CSU chief defends pay raises. (2007, September). The State Hornet. https://statehornet.com/2007/09/csu-chief-defends-pay-raises

Last updated November 1, 2026. Corrections: [email protected]. Figures are nominal and not adjusted for inflation.