Thirteen Cal State presidents are set to receive pay increases after CSU trustees approved a new framework for calculating executive salaries and subsequent salary boosts Wednesday afternoon.
The changes were approved after a study, presented during Wednesday’s CSU board of trustees meeting, found that CSU administrators were paid “well below” the market median compared to peer institutions.
In response, the board greenlit salary and benefits adjustments for a slew of administrators and adopted a new policy for calculating salaries moving forward.
The approved raises ranged from 5-20% — with Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong receiving the largest bump at over $100,000, agenda documents showed.
While the salary changes passed by a landslide — with only Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis voting against the measure — the proposal sparked outrage among a swath of CSU employees who protested outside the Chancellor’s Office in Long Beach ahead of the decision, according to a news release from the California Faculty Association.
Erin Foote, a Cal Poly employee and vice president for organizing for the CSU employees union, expressed frustration over the changes.
“We value President Armstrong’s leadership, which is why employees delivered his office a petition with 6,000 signatures on it urging he use his influence at the Board of Trustees to ensure the raises we and other unions negotiated were delivered on,” Foote wrote in an email to The Tribune. “The failure to do so, while lining your own pockets, is a betrayal of that leadership.”
She continued: “The Chancellor using a fake budget deficit as pretense to deny the lowest paid employees their contractually promised raises while also giving the highest paid person on campus even more money will not come as a surprise to any worker in America today.”
The CSU system’s budget is precarious, with $144 million in cuts approved by Gov. Gavin Newsom this year. CalMatters reported in July that the system was facing a $2.3 billion budget gap.
Which Cal State Presidents Will See Pay Increases?
Thirteen Cal State presidents received base pay raises set to enact retroactively to July 2025, CSU spokesperson Amy Bentley confirmed to The Tribune on Friday.
Other executives were made eligible for deferred compensation or performance-based boosts ranging from 5-15%, though they may not have received raises, documents showed.
Armstrong’s salary went from $509,336 to $611,203 per year, documents showed. That’s equivalent to a 20% — or $101,867 — increase.
Sacramento State President Luke Wood’s salary rose from $476,225 to $504,799 — a 6% boost.
Meanwhile, Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval saw a 10% pay hike, going from an annual salary of $476,015 to $523,617.
Both Wood and Jiménez-Sandoval were made eligible for performance-based increases up to 10%, while Armstrong was given a shot at a 15% bump.
Here’s the full list of the CSU executive base pay raises approved Wednesday, excluding deferred compensation and performance-based pay eligibility:
- Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong: $509,336 to $611,203
- San Diego State President Adela de la Torre: $533,148 to $559,805
- San José State President Cynthia Teniente-Matson: $474,840 to $546,066
- CSU Northridge President Erika Beck: $489,576 to $563,012
- Sacramento State President Luke Wood: $476,225 to $504,799
- CSU Fullerton President Ronald Rochon: $498,130 to $523,037
- Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval: $476,015 to $523,617
- San Francisco State President Lynn Mahoney: $472,857 to $520,143
- Cal State Los Angeles President Berenecea Johnson Eanes: $496,213 to $521,024
- Cal State San Bernardino President Tomás Morales: $455,201 to $477,961
- Cal State San Marcos President Ellen Neufeldt: $445,519 to $467,795
- Cal State Dominguez Hills President Thomas Parham: $453,971 to $476,670
- Cal State Monterey Bay President Vanya Quiñones: $370,000 to $421,800