An overview of BC university faculty compensations: UBC vs. other institutions

UBC staff make HOW MUCH?!?!

A look into the staff compensation at British Columbia's biggest post-secondary institution.

Introduction to readers

Post-secondary education is a massive investment

Think about the money that goes into post-secondary institutions: your money, taxpayer money, donations, and more. But have you ever wondered, where does it all go? Let's pull back the curtain and uncover the story behind the dollars!

Initial statistics about UBC

UBC makes A LOT more money from its students.

BC university's revenue from student tuition

Calculated using number of students in 2022/2023 × 2022/2023 tuition

UBC makes so much more money from its students, but pays its staff similarly to the other top BC universities.

So where does that money go?

Looking into UBC's operational budget

Let's take a look at UBC's Fiscal Year 2024 Operational Budget:

UBC 2024 Expenses
SFU 2024 Expenses

UBC spends an overwhelming 1.8 billion dollars, three quarters of its annual operational budget, on salaries and benefits for its staff.

Looks like that money does go to the staff, but probing further, something is off...

Recalling that compared to SFU, UBC gets double the amount of revenue from student tuition. How does UBC spend quadruple the amount on salary and benefits?

Do they really pay their staff like the other universities?

A closer look into individual faculty salaries

Let's start off with the average salary for each university...

Conclusion

In conclusion,

While UBC pays the majority of its staff similarly to many schools in BC, it spends so much more on its highest paid staff than other schools.

Search for an individual university faculty salary

Know someone working at a university?

Find out how much they make, and compare it to the highest earner overall and at their school.

Credits

2020/2021 salaries from Vancouver Sun

2022/2023 headcount in post-secondary institutions from the BC Government

2022/2023 cost of tuition per university from the BC Government

FTEs (full time enrollments) from the BC Government