Abstract
This study analyzes the rising disparities in faculty compensation between public and private universities since 1980. While also explaining why these important trends have emerged, it found that the relative fiscal compensation of private research and doctoral university faculty has increased much faster than the benefits of public research and doctoral university faculty. The study also identifies which public universities have been successful in retaining their faculty salary competitiveness and which are no longer competitive with comparable private universities because of nearly insurmountable average salary disparities.