A number of board chairs have expressed worries about issues of discrimination. Only about 4 percent said the president's spouse earned a salary for working as a partner. They could think of no current instance of a husband's receiving compensation for his duties as a president's spouse. Boards that compensate spouses often keep such arrangements confidential, according to the consultants and higher-education groups, as well as presidents and spouses. At public universities, the money for such positions usually comes through the institution's private foundation, which is subject to less taxpayer scrutiny, according to officials of higher-education associations that have studied compensation for spouses.
Some institutions offer only a job title and a few perquisites.
According to the education council's presidential survey, about 30 percent of institutions pay for a spouse's travel expenses. An informal survey of presidents' spouses in the Association of American Universities last spring found that about a quarter of the institutions gave the partners some form of compensation, says Patricia Hasselmo, who oversees the association's group for spouses. While the association promised to keep the specific results of the survey confidential, Ms. Hasselmo says few institutions offer salaries to spouses. Among those that do, the amount varies widely. A common form of compensation for partners is a retirement annuity, she says.