FAMU trustees approve financial package for new president, raise tuition - noteworthy news - Florida A & M University - Brief Article

Black Issues in Higher Education, July 18, 2002

TALLAHASSEE, FLA.

Florida A&M University's trustees approved a financial package last month that totals more than $350,000 annually for new president Dr. Fred Gainous.

The trustees also decided to increase tuition for the upcoming school year, raising it 5 percent for in-state students and 10 percent for out-of-state students.

The president's new deal includes an annual base salary of $275,000, a 12 percent annuity each year, a $30,000 housing allowance, a $1,000-amonth car allowance and membership in the Governor's Club, a private restaurant and bar near the capital, FAMU spokesman Eddie Jackson said.

Gainous, a Tallahassee native, began his new duties late last month. He is succeeding Dr. Frederick Humphries, who resigned last year after a 16-year tenure at FAMU marked by enrollment growth and academic success. Humphries, who left FAMU in late December to become president of the Washington-based National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), earned $183,000 a year.

When Humphries was named FAMU's president in 1985, enrollment was approximately 5,000 and slipping. The school now has more than 12,200 students, making it the nation's biggest single-campus historically Black university.

Gainous, 54, spent the last 14 years as chancellor of Alabama's two-year college system, restructuring that state's community and junior colleges, which included merging more than 20 schools.

Before going to Alabama, he worked as administrator at St. Petersburg Junior College and with state education departments in Florida and Kansas.