Hey, State Employees, Act Your Wage [PHIL-OSOPHY]

As concerns over the cost of college continue to escalate, and parents go to extremes to help get their kids admitted, interest in how schools spend their money— including the very generous salaries of campus administrators—continue to grow. Highly paid college administrators don't always work for the more prestigious schools, as you'll see. MassLive.com has compiled a list of the top 100 state employees who earn a pretty penny, in a Jacqueline Tempera article.

Here's a quick pop-quiz: are Massachusetts' highest paid state employees basketball coaches, cops, chancellors, deans or professors? If you answered yes, yes, yes, yes and yes, you get an A+.

At UMass Dartmouth, for instance, there is an "interim dean" who made $289,483.60 in 2018. In fact, the majority of the top 100 paid state employees work for the University of Massachusetts and make the most money among all state workers, according to data just released by the Commonwealth's Comptroller's Office.

Do you think these high salaries pay off for the students? There also appears to be very little relationship between the quality of education and the value of the salaries.

Go ahead and take a peek inside the pay envelopes of the highest paid state workers and come to your own conclusion. I've concluded that I finally understand what's meant by higher education.

Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Contact him at phil@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilPaleologos. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.