A recent analysis of compensation for private-college presidents shows how the trend toward greater income inequality, widely reported as it applies to the corporate world, has come to academe, a financier and economic analyst writes in a New York Times column.

Steven Rattner, the chairman of Willett Advisors LLC and a former counselor to the U.S. secretary of the treasury, cites data compiled by The Chronicle of Higher Education showing that private-college presidents’ pay rose by more than 8 percent a year from 2000 to 2010, with widening gaps between presidents and faculty and between the highest- and lowest-paid campus leaders.

Mr. Rattner says the arguments advanced for rising presidential pay closely resemble those of the corporate sector: “The jobs of these nonprofit leaders have become so much more demanding, so much more complex that higher compensation is warranted.”