Last November, the California State University Board of Trustees approved a 10% increase to Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval’s base salary, raising his annual pay to more than $500,000. 

This would make Jiménez-Sandoval the fifth-highest-paid president in all 23 CSU campuses, leaving many to question why he got such a boost in the first place.

That salary would make Jiménez-Sandoval earn about six times more than full-time instructional faculty and nearly eight times more than temporary lecturers.

Not only does the president get a raise, but also a 10% at-risk performance eligibility pay, which means that if the president meets performance expectations set by the board, he can get up to a 10% pay bonus per fiscal year. 

Increasing the president’s salary by 10% is not what the CSU Board of Trustees should be focused on. Instead, the board should be prioritizing better pay for the faculty at Fresno State.

What does Jiménez-Sandoval bring to the table?

According to an adopted resolution by the board, a reason that CSU presidents get paid so much is to “recruit and retain talent, sustain institutional excellence and advance its mission of inclusive excellence and student success.”

By raising CSU presidents’ salaries by 5-20%, the board hopes to retain top leadership while making their compensation competitive enough to attract other viable candidates.

“In a system of 23 campuses, 15 presidents have retired or moved on to other jobs in the past five years,” Jiménez-Sandoval said in a statement to The Collegian. “The board believes this will bring us on par with similar institutions, and will encourage more CSU presidents to serve longer, especially in a climate in which the presidency has become inordinately stressful.”

While a 5-20% raise is a generous amount to CSU presidents, Jiménez-Sandoval said that an external review done by the CSU Board of Trustees found that around 75% of comparable institutions pay their top executives a higher salary than the CSU.

Jiménez-Sandoval became president in 2021 and has made identifiable contributions to the school. He brought around $65 million in grants and contracts in 2022 and 2023, and led the school to achieve an “R2” status by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education. 

“Since becoming provost and then president of Fresno State, my focus has been on supporting our students, strengthening enrollment and stability, advancing equity and access and deepening the university’s impact in the Central Valley,” Jiménez-Sandoval said.

Additionally, in a three-year performance evaluation conducted by the CSU chancellor’s office in 2024, the president received a positive evaluation, saying that he is a “thoughtful leader” and has brought “healing” across the community. He will be evaluated again in 2027.

While Jiménez-Sandoval’s contributions to the university have been significant, the pay gap between the president and lecturers is largely disproportionate.

Even the president agrees with this himself.

“I’m painfully aware that many CSU faculty and staff are paid less than their peers and that addressing their salaries is critically important to the health of the system,” Jiménez-Sandoval said. “I remain deeply committed to advocating for our students, faculty and staff, and to working with all of you to overcome difficult challenges.”

Recognize the backbone of the university

We see that the university is operating more as a corporation rather than an educational institution. Who does this benefit besides the top administrators and the athletics department? No one. 

Fresno State is funded by the state and the students. Students who want to learn and deserve the best education that they can get. When we’re more focused on keeping competition rampant at the top level and not focusing on how to improve student performance, the plot is lost. 

This issue is not special to Fresno State. The college-turned-pseudo business scheme has been plaguing multiple CSU campuses and schools across the country. For example, The Collegian reported last spring that San Francisco State University was laying off hundreds of faculty and staff and cutting multiple classes. This was in response to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget cuts, but many faculty expressed disdain with the CSU for siding with the state Legislature instead of its students and staff. 

The CSU Board of Trustees could be spending this money in other places. It’s better to foster competition for lecturer positions than for president positions. The better the board pays faculty, the better the results are for students’ learning and performance.

This would benefit Fresno State’s reputation as not only on its way to becoming an athletic powerhouse, but also a revered educational institution that can serve Central Valley students. 

Instead, our tuition, which is determined by the CSU Board of Trustees, is always raised. While students are battling a five-year tuition hike of 34%, they are simultaneously struggling with living and transportation costs. 

According to the CSU website, for the 2026-27 school year, student living costs range from $9,840 to $16,204 on top of the $7,350 tuition. 

This is blatantly unaffordable. Raising the president’s salary is a slap in the face to students who struggle with tuition costs and the cost of living every day. 

Fresno State is the third cheapest CSU to attend, and while the tuition costs are nowhere near Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s $13,600, students are still feeling financial strain from rising costs of living, food and tuition. 

Other issues arise

While the CSU Board of Trustees does not directly determine funding for departments, the pay disparity between Jiménez-Sandoval and faculty presents a bigger picture of which departments and resources are underfunded. 

Since Fresno State is receiving around a $7 million reduction as a result of CSU budget cuts, many classes and programs are being rescinded. 

For example, in 2024, The Collegian reported that 41 English courses were cut and faculty workloads were reduced as a result of budget cuts. This led to many students seeing their graduation plans derailed.

As a result, Vice Provost Alam Hasson said that more classes may be moved online in order for students to meet graduation requirements. While this shows the university is making an effort for students to meet their goals, data shows that students perform worse in online courses than in in-person courses. 

This just slaps a BandAid on the recurring problem that Fresno State students are facing. Giving the president a 10% salary boost while faculty and students are undermined with fewer classes, workloads and pay disparities shows that Fresno State’s mission of “empowering student success” is not being committed to. 

The fact is, students deserve lower tuition rates, and faculty deserve to be paid more. While the president has made great contributions to the university, the CSU Board of Trustees should provide the same recognition to faculty and students.