LINCOLN – The Southeast Community College Board has approved a new contract to keep President Paul Illich at the school through June of 2029.
The contract grants a ten-percent increase in salary and Illich will be paid $334,290 this coming year. The contribution to his retirement fund would be at nine-percent and he’ll receive the same increase in benefits provided to other college employees.


A CEO compensation executive team negotiated the contract on behalf of the full board. The team Chairman, Neal Stenberg said yesterday at a college board meeting in Lincoln the new contract for five years begins July 1st.


Stenberg said Illich had informed him he would be happy with a 4.6% increase similar to that given to other employees, but the CEO team felt that that wasn’t a fair compensation.  "To the extent the data has been available you typically look to what other community collleges have done, in deciding compensation for our own chief executive. That would be fair (4.6%) if Dr. Illich's accomplishments were just equal to those of his peers. The team determined, however, that's not been the case. In fact over the past ten years, Dr. Illich has distinguished himself in numerous ways."


Iliich, who came to SCC from McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas, has overseen a massive expansion in programs and facilities at the three-campus SCC system along with establishment of off-campus learning centers. In a report Tuesday, officials said Southeast Community College enrollment has increased nine percent this year.


Stenberg said over the past ten years, Illich’s leadership has resulted in improvements that have been amazing and that Illich deserves to be fairly compensated for that. The CEO committee also pointed out that SCC is the second largest community college in Nebraska…..six times the size of the smallest two-year school in the state.  "What that means is, that Dr. Illich manages a much larger and more complex educational system than do his peers at four of the other six Nebraska community colleges. And, that needs to be taken into account to the extent that we use peer comparisons to set CEO compensation."


Illich recently received a positive and enthusiastic evaluation by the board approved in April. Stenberg said another factor in the compensation increase is that Illich has a solid national profile for the work he is doing.


The CEO team looked at national compensation of college CEOs. Stenberg said the most highly compensated community college presidents in the U.S. are at the level of $450,000 annually. He said Illich’s performance would place him at the high end of the salary range.  Stenberg pointed out that the University of Nebraska has had three college presidents in a span of five years. "Chief Executive searches are expensive. But, the higher cost of losing an extraordinary leader is the loss of momentum that will inevitably slow the progress of any educational institution."


Stenberg said SCC stands a better chance of keeping Illich as the school’s president if it establishes a rate of compensation that follows his record of success and achievements. The SCC Board approved the contract on a 10-0 vote.

Dr. Paul Illich
Dr. Paul Illich