SCCC boosts salary, housing stipend for President Ed Bonahue

Suffolk County Community College President Ed Bonahue will receive a $25,000 raise as well as a more than 30% bump for housing this year after 14 months on the job.

SCCC trustees on Thursday voted 8-0 for a resolution to increase Bonahue’s annual salary from $265,000 to $290,000, and his housing allowance from $36,000 to $48,000.

Trustee Gemma deLeon-Lopresti said the board’s personnel committee met on July 21 to discuss the matter before recommending the raise to the full board.

The committee considered inflation, the competitive environment for recruiting community college presidents, comparable salaries and Bonahue’s job performance, she said.

DeLeon-Lopresti recalled the college conducted an "arduous" two-year search for Bonahue, who took his post in June 2021.

“We all agree that Dr. Bonahue has provided us with exemplary service for the past year,” deLeon-Lopresti said at a trustees meeting at SCCC's Ammerman Campus in Selden.

“He met and exceeded our expectations in many areas,” she said.

Bonahue, a Setauket native with a Ph.D. in English literature, served most recently as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Florida.

"I appreciate that the board recognizes that inflation takes a toll for every part of the college, from our Civil Service staff, to our faculty, to our administrators," he told Newsday. "And I'm pleased that they included me in that as well."

Board members said Bonahue’s increased salary was in line with other community colleges across New York State.

The national median salary for presidents of associate degree schools such as SCCC was $261,284 in the 2021-22 school year, according to the American Association of University Professors, a nonprofit academic professional group.

The salaries ranged from $124,030 to $489,000 at public institutions. SCCC is part of the State University of New York system. 

Bonahue noted enrollment is up at the college’s Brentwood and Riverhead campuses, but down at Ammerman.

Overall enrollment at the three campuses is down by 5% from 2020-21 amid a nationwide decline in community college enrollment, college officials said.

Enrollment decline is the biggest issue the college faces after experiencing a 29% drop between 2010-11 and 2020-21, according to the 2022 annual report from the Suffolk County Legislature’s Budget Review Office.

Retention and recruitment of students is a key focus of Bonahue's.

He cited a new initiative this year — a “microsemester,” as he put it — in which a student takes a semester’s worth of credit hours in seven weeks.

“We're trying to meet the whole community with whatever they need to continue their education,” Bonahue told Newsday.

Correction: Trustees of Suffolk County Community College voted to raise the salary of President Ed Bonahue by $25,000. A previous version of this story misstated the amount of the increase.

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.