Tuition will go up for SUNY students next semester, and while experts search for places to trim costs, salaries of top officials is one area that most likely won’t be affected.

The State University of New York Board of Trustees adopted a tuition hike in a budget request for next year. The proposal calls for in-state students to pay $310 more per semester, starting in the spring — totaling a $620 increase annually.

According to reports from the Nov. 14 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education, the current state of the economy will have public universities in particular feeling a money crunch because many depend on state appropriations.

Aside from tuition increases, students at Binghamton University and other SUNY institutions will also have to deal with budget cuts. The specific cuts are yet to be determined, but BU alone is set to lose $4.2 million in state aid.

According to public pay roll records, BU President Lois B. DeFleur brings in a salary of $275,000, which is among the highest in the SUNY system, according to records. Her salary, along with that of other top administrators in the system, is annually reviewed and set by the SUNY Board of Trustees and the chancellor.

“I am very proud of all the accomplishments that we have achieved at Binghamton University,” DeFleur said in a statement issued yesterday morning. “As president of a growing doctoral research institution, my salary is comparable to my peers at other public universities.”

Officials say that the figure is what the University needs to remain competitive among other institutions.

“The salaries of system administration officers and senior staff reflect their system-wide responsibilities and allow for successful recruitment and retention in a highly competitive national market,” SUNY’s Salary and Compensation Plan states. “Peer data from 2006 show that senior university officers and senior staff members receive salaries in the range of $120,000 to $425,000.”

According to David Henahan, spokesman for the state system, SUNY compensates campus leaders based on data from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. Increases in salary, if any, are only granted after a performance review by the chancellor, he said, whose salary is $340,000 per year.

The chancellor’s earnings are among the lowest for public systems of higher education, according to Henahan.

Student Association President Matt Landau said that the pay DeFleur receives is fitting for the responsibilities she balances.

“DeFleur dedicates her life and puts forth a huge amount of dedication to the school, and she deserves all the money that she receives,” he said.

Since she’s been president at BU, DeFleur has expanded academic programs as well as foreign and extracurricular programs, according to University spokeswoman Gail Glover.

Glover said that given the financial difficulty of the times, it is important that BU be headed by someone like the current president.

“Her track record demonstrates that she’s up to the task,” she said. “These are challenging times, the economy is rough and it’s important that [the University] is led by Lois DeFleur, who holds a great track record.”