For the third year in a row, Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun’s total compensation has exceeded $2 million, making him the highest-paid university president in Massachusetts, according to financial disclosures.

Aoun was the eighth highest-paid university president nationwide in FY 2021 and the 24th in FY 2022, according to reporting by The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

Aoun’s salary information, along with a comprehensive overview of the university’s finances, is released annually in the Form 990, an information return that tax-exempt organizations with total assets exceeding $500,000 are mandated to file to the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS. Form 990 ensures that tax-exempt organizations, which include universities, comply with the requirements to maintain their tax-exempt status, according to the IRS. 

Northeastern has expanded rapidly in the matter of a decade, increasing its enrollment by more than 16,000 students since 2013 and leading total enrollment growth across all Boston colleges and universities. 

Northeastern’s endowment has steadily grown in the past five years, exceeding $1.9 billion in FY 2024.

Northeastern’s Form 990, which The Huntington News requested from the university under Massachusetts’ public record law, lists the compensation of key university employees as well as the university’s spending activity and contributions to outside organizations. The report spans 12 months from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, or FY 2024.

Here’s what The News’ review of the form found.

Top university officials saw total compensation increases

Aoun took home $2.4 million in FY 2024, according to the form.

While Aoun’s earnings increased more than $160,000 from the previous fiscal year, a review of Northeastern’s previous Form 990s by The News revealed that he made far more in 2022. Aoun’s earnings dropped nearly $700,000 — from $2.9 to $2.2 million — between 2022 and 2023. The $700,000 was deferred compensation from FY 2021, according to previous Form 990s.

The top three earners below Aoun in 2023 and 2024 remained the same: Chief Financial Officer Thomas Nedell, who compiles the Form 990, Senior Vice President for University Advancement Diane MacGillivray and now former Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs David Madigan.

Madigan stepped down from his position in June but is now a professor in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences. Beth Winkelstein assumed the position Aug. 22 at the start of the 2025-26 academic school year. 

Compared with the 2023 fiscal year, Nedell earned $212,677 more in 2024, MacGillivray earned $179,169 more and Madigan earned $119,357 more. 

The university also disclosed that the only loan it paid both years was $2.7 million to Madigan, categorized as a “home loan.” 

Usama Fayyad, the university’s senior vice provost for AI and data strategy and senior advisor to the president, earned $343,670 more in 2024, putting his total earnings at $1.06 million. The university’s embrace of AI has become more evident in recent years — in April it announced a partnership with Antrophic’s Claude, an AI chatbot, and Aoun told the Class of 2029 at this year’s convocation that “AI is going to change everything.” 

The form also explained that Aoun is given first-class air travel “if business class is not available” and that the university pays for his wife to travel with him “when necessary for business purposes.” He is provided with social club dues and housing, which consists of a Beacon Hill property that was worth an estimated $11.6 million in 2025. Other employees are given first-class flight privileges when “necessary,” if Aoun approves, according to the form. 

Added employees, expenses and assets

Northeastern gained 2,044 employees between fiscal years 2023 and 2024, according to the form.

The university also increased its assets by nearly $400 million over the 2024 fiscal year. Its total net assets, after deducting about $20.3 million in liabilities, was $4.1 billion. While Northeastern lags behind its Boston counterparts, including Boston University and Boston College, in total net assets, its increase was similar to Boston College but larger than Boston University’s $167 million growth.

Total net assets indicate an institution’s financial health and can be tangible, intangible or financial. It includes endowment, land, equipment and licenses.

Northeastern disclosed that it spent $1.1 million on fundraising in 2024 after not allocating any expenses to the category the previous year. The university had a net loss of $32,486 from its fundraising events, which include efforts over email, phone and in-person. 

The university notably spent $69.3 million on consultants, a number down from $78.2 million in FY 2023. While most universities spend a few million dollars on consultants each year, similar institutions, such as Boston University, Boston College and Syracuse University, did not hire any in FY 2024, bringing their respective functional expenses to around $100 million dollars less than Northeastern. 

Grants to outside organizations

The university reported spending a total of $1.3 million lobbying the federal government in 2024. Nedell wrote in the Form 990 that the university “pays membership dues to membership organizations which may engage in lobbying activities.”

Northeastern’s lobbying activity includes funding for higher education programs and policy issues “including financial aid programs, work study, cooperative education, international students and lifelong learning,” according to public lobbying disclosures. The university also allocated money in support of federal research programs at the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, or NSF, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Department of Homeland Security.

The News previously reported that Northeastern has lobbied $270,000 each quarter since quarter three of 2022, more than most Ivy League institutions. 

Northeastern paid grants to 168 outside organizations in 2024, according to the form. The highest grant was $8.2 million and went to high-tech startup US Ignite Inc. The university gave $2 million to Lukla Inc., an apparel company based in Portland, Oregon. 

Most other grants went to universities across the nation as subawards, with the highest including $2.5 million to the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of North Texas, $2.3 million to the University of Pittsburgh and Temple University and $2.2 million to Northern Arizona University. 

Subawards are a way for universities to collaborate through grant funding. When Northeastern is the prime institution on a grant, it distributes the grant funding to its partner institutions in the form of subawards for research.

Correction: This article was updated Oct. 1 at 6:45 p.m. to clarify Aoun’s total composition exceeded $2 million. A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that was his salary. 

Correction: This article was updated Sept. 26 at 11:30 a.m. to clarify the endowment is $1.9 billion. A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the endowment was $1.9 million.