U of A President Robbins to take 10% pay cut amid $177 million deficit

University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins is taking a cut of 10% off his pay package of more than $1 million, he announced in an email to employees Monday morning.

Between his base salary of $816,008, various perks including housing and a transportation allowance, retirement contributions and incentivized bonuses for completing various projects, Robbins makes more than $1 million annually.

“I recommended to the Arizona Board of Regents, and it has accepted, that my total compensation be significantly reduced,” Robbins wrote.

ABOR Chair Elect Cecilia Mata wrote in a statement also released Monday morning that “based on President Robert Robbins’ request, at its upcoming meeting the board will schedule an action to reduce President Robbins’ base salary by 10 percent and eliminate his individual at-risk and multiple year performance compensation.”

Some of the at-risk and multiple year performance bonuses Robbins was eligible to receive included $20,000 for centralizing the office of Information Technology and $30,000 for “demonstrating substantial progress toward enhancing the student experience and outcomes of UA Global Campus.”

Both of those tasks have been mandated by interim Chief Financial Officer John Arnold’s financial action plan. Robbins will not receive those bonuses, nor the others in his contract.

Robbins was asked in a Feb. 2 interview with the Arizona Daily Star whether he would take a pay cut amid the UA’s $177 million deficit. He responded that he “absolutely” would and had offered to do so.

Robbins also noted then that he temporarily took what amounted to a 37% pay cut when he and other UA employees were furloughed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Previously a cardiac surgeon and chair of cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine, Robbins had been paid more than $1.2 million a year in his five-year position as CEO of Texas Medical Center, which describes itself as the world’s largest medical complex.

In 2017 when he accepted lower pay to leave the Texas position to become UA president, Robbins said, “I’ve never been really motivated by money,” and added that he grew up poor in Mississippi. “I’m motivated by the vision and passion I have to return to academia. ... Major universities are one of the most important assets we have as a country and world,” he said.

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His counterpart at the larger Arizona State University, President Michael Crow, makes a base salary of about $834,000, not including retirement contributions, housing and vehicle stipends, and performance bonuses, The Arizona Republic has reported. Crow is the highest paid of the state’s three public university presidents.

In November, Robbins and then-UA Chief Financial Officer Lisa Rulney told the regents they had discovered a massive miscalculation in cash reserves and that the UA was in what he called a financial crisis.

Interim CFO Arnold has said the university’s spending of reserves was “unsustainable.” He said the reasons included inflation and stagnant revenue. Sixty-one of the 81 units within UA overspent in fiscal year 2024, he said.

The regents reported Feb. 9 that the university has since found $27 million in savings so far by “permanently eliminating currently vacant positions” in colleges and has identified 13 administration positions it plans to eliminate or “reclassify.” The positions were not specified; ABOR said the process was in the “beginning stage.”

ABOR will hire consultants to work with UA officials to cut back on what Arnold calls administrative “bloat;” and to study ways to try to make the Athletics Department profitable. Athletics owes UA $86 million in unpaid loans that came from the reserves.

Also, UA units have been asked to present plans for potential 5%, 10% and 15% budget cuts. “That plan is not the right one,” UA Faculty Senate Chair Leila Hudson has said.

Many faculty senators and UA staffers blame Robbins and the regents for the situation. Protesters chanted “chop from the top” in a demonstration organized by the United Campus Workers of Arizona union.

Robbins has said he understands the public frustration. “This happened on my watch. I’m totally responsible for it,” he told the Star in a Feb. 1 interview. “And I’m also responsible for getting the plan implemented and solving this problem, and I fully intend to do that.”