Pay for presidents at top colleges and universities is “escalating rapidly,” according to a new survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Eight public institutions paid at least $700,000 to their presidents, compared with only two that paid that much the year before.

The minimum compensation among leaders at public research universities is approximately $450,000, and 56 out of 182 public institutions paid their president at least that amount in the 2006-7 fiscal year.

Compare compensation levels of college and university presidents with leaders of other nonprofit institutions in The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual executive-compensation survey, and listen to Marcus S. Owens, a Washington lawyer who formerly headed the Internal Revenue Service’s tax-exempt division, discuss with The Chronicle of Higher Education the agency’s plans to seek additional compensation details from colleges and universities.

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