UNM has nine more vice presidents than NMSU and outspends State on vice-presidential salaries by about 3 to 1, according to the University's salary book.
UNM spends about $3.4 million per year on the salaries of 14 vice presidents and one interim vice president.
NMSU pays its six vice presidents an average of $178,000 per year, for a total of about $1 million.
UNM and NMSU are waiting to find out what the Legislature will contribute to their budgets, which include paying the salaries of top administrators.
UNM's financial decisions will hinge on the outcome of the legislative session that starts in mid-January, said Carolyn Gonzales, UNM spokeswoman.
"Essentially, long-term, we won't know about the budget until we hear back from Santa Fe," Gonzales said. "So, Dr. Schmidly will not be able to develop a plan until we get a picture of what sort of resources we're going to get."
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Darrell Pehr, spokesman for NMSU, said the university anticipates a drop in funding from Santa Fe.
"A reduction in state funding can potentially impact all facets of operations at NMSU - instruction and general positions and operating budgets, state research and public-service projects and capital projects," he said. "NMSU has therefore elected to delay its normal internal budgetary cycle until spring 2009, to ensure that we do not plan a budget based upon previously calculated state appropriations which may not be fully funded." ˇ
But the spending habits of the two Universities differ widely.
NMSU's six vice presidents preside over the roughly 31,000 students who attend its campuses.
UNM's 14 vice presidents and one interim vice president handle a student population of 32,086, including students on satellite campuses.
Gonzales said the schools have different needs because UNM is a high-level research institution and has different academic goals from NMSU.
"I think there are probably a number of reasons for why we have different administrative structures, and part of that is that we have a hospital, and they don't have a hospital; we have a medical school, and they don't have a medical school," Gonzales said. "They're a farming school and ... we're a research University considered (to be a) very high-intensive research institution."
Salaries for UNM's 14 vice presidents range from about $180,000 to nearly $450,000 a year, according to UNM's salary book, which is available in Zimmerman Library.
John Pieper, vice president of the College of Pharmacy, makes the least among vice presidents, at $182,700 per year. Paul Roth, executive vice president for the Health Sciences Center, makes the most at $445,536, according to the book.
Pehr said the average salary of NMSU's vice presidents ranges from $160,000 to $190,000.
Student Torey Lewis said UNM could function without so many vice presidents.
"I think you have to pick the right candidate to do the job correctly," he said. "I particularly believe that you don't need a lot of people to do a specific job. You have to be very selective and careful of who you hire."
The amount of money paid to vice presidents is too much, he said.
"We don't need that many vice presidents and high administrators," Lewis said. "We can do just fine with less."
