The chancellor of North Dakota's university system should be paid as much as $260,000 annually, says a Board of Higher Education subcommittee that has also recommended substantial pay rises for the state's college presidents.

The compensation panel, which met Monday by telephone conference call, agreed to recommend to the full board that Chancellor William Goetz's yearly salary be pegged between $205,000 and $260,000. He is now paid $170,000 annually.

The subcommittee includes Board of Higher Education members John Q. Paulsen, Jon Backes and Sue Andrews, who is the panel's chairwoman. The full board, which will consider the recommendation later, has eight voting members and a faculty adviser.

The panel also suggested minor alternations to pay ranges it has previously endorsed for North Dakota's 10 college presidents. Almost all of the new ranges would offer higher pay for the presidents of the affected colleges. The Board of Higher Education plans to consider the compensation suggestions later this month.

The salary for the presidents of North Dakota State University and the University of North Dakota should be between $275,000 to $325,000 annually, the recommendation says. Both incumbents now get $211,686 annually, along with vehicle allowances and extra compensation from private NDSU and UND foundations.

Minot State University's president should be paid between $165,000 and $195,000, the recommendations say. The proposed range for the presidents of North Dakota's universities at Dickinson, Mayville and Valley City is $150,000 to $185,000.

North Dakota's two-year colleges at Bismarck, Williston, Wahpeton and Devils Lake should pay their presidents between $130,000 to $165,000 annually, the committee says.

The pay ranges for the chancellor and university presidents were set after comparing existing pay levels to those at comparable schools around the country. Should the Board of Higher Education adopt them, they would be implemented over three years.

Paulsen, who is president of the full board, says setting the new pay guidelines is an urgent task, because of the pending retirements of the presidents of UND, Dickinson State, Valley City State and Lake Region State College.

The salary ranges will give search committees numbers to use in recruiting new presidents, Paulsen said.