View the 990 forms Click the links below to see the IRS 990 form for each university. • Lincoln University • Penn State University • Temple University • University of Pittsburgh

Nearly 20 years after his retirement, former Penn State University President Bryce Jordan lives in Texas but remains as prominent a figure to some on campus as the arena bearing his name.

Now, data provided for the first time under the state's revised Right-to-Know Law reveals something else about the 84-year-old who left the presidency in 1990: He's still on the school's books.

Penn State continues to contribute toward benefits and deferred compensation related to Dr. Jordan's seven years of university service. For the year ending June 30, 2008, the amount was $35,888, largest among the eight former university officers for whom Penn State contributes to either benefits or deferred compensation plans.

Penn State, the state's largest public university, never before released individual salary or benefit data because it was exempt from both the state Right-to-Know Law and any requirement to file an Internal Revenue Service Form 990 that nonprofit organizations submit to the IRS.

But the revised Right-to-Know Law that took effect in January changed that, requiring the school and Pennsylvania's three other state-related universities to file with the state Open Records Office and post on their Web sites all information found on Form 990 plus their 25 highest-salaried employees. The deadline to do so was May 30.

It's the reason why Penn State football coach Joe Paterno's $1 million-plus salary, released last week, is for the first time a matter of public record. It's why, from now on, Penn State must provide Form 990 information, ranging from the legal fees it incurs and tuition income it brings in to the names of professional firms and other contractors that receive the most university work.

The other three state-related institutions -- the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University and Lincoln University -- already were required by the IRS to file Form 990s with the government. For those schools, the change essentially means releasing a larger list of highest-earning employees.

Penn State on Friday would not say what Dr. Jordan's presidential salary was, or if he received any compensation beyond his normal salary when he left. The school would not say what Penn State contributed during the other 18 years since he left office.

"We're not obliged now to provide that information from decades ago, and we're not going to," spokeswoman Lisa Powers said. "This is personal information from a former employee."

Dr. Jordan's tenure marked a period of major growth at Penn State, and he is credited, among other things, with helping it gain admittance to the Big 10 athletic conference in 1993, three years after he stepped down.

Ms. Powers said a third of the $35,888 total Dr. Jordan received last year was a taxable life insurance benefit, and the rest is deferred compensation, due to run out next year.

She said Penn State has since changed the way it handles these contractual arrangements, but she did not elaborate.

Records show Penn State in 2007-08 contributed a significantly smaller sum, $5,311, toward benefits of another former Penn State president, Joab Thomas, who succeeded Dr. Jordan in the job from 1990-95.

"Dr. Jordan negotiated a different contract," said Ms. Powers.

Deferred compensation plans, a routine component of executive pay, enable an individual entering retirement to receive a steady level of income that might be taxed at a lower rate.

Plans can stretch out for many years, said Tom Flannery, a principal in Boston with Mercer, a human resources consulting firm. However, he generally does not see plans anymore as long as 20 years, and said five years is more typical.

He said tax rule changes have reduced the advantages of those plans, individuals these days prefer to manage their own money and institutions want to avoid the cost of administering drawn-out plans.

Reached at his Austin, Texas, home, Dr. Jordan said he doesn't understand why Penn State calls the payments he receives deferred compensation because those ended several years ago. He said what he does still receive in addition to insurance is income from a portion of his salary that Penn State invested for him at a guaranteed rate of return.

"It's called a bookkeeping account, and it's my own money," he said. "It's an investment opportunity that Penn State gave me. They took a portion of my salary and invested it at a guaranteed interest rate of 8 percent."

He said those payments run out next year and that he does not believe he received any extra compensation timed to his retirement.

Dr. Jordan said the university reimburses him for spending needed to maintain an office in his home and to pay a half-time secretary, a trustee-approved arrangement he said is traditionally offered to departing Penn State presidents. He said the reimbursement varies, as does the work he sometimes does for the school.

"I'm called upon for recommendations for people who were at Penn State or still are, that sort of thing," he said.

Ms. Powers said she did not know what kind of office expenses are covered but said they are not a part of the $35,888 figure. Ms. Powers said she did not know what Dr. Jordan meant by a "bookkeeping account."

The four state-related universities do not face anywhere near the disclosure requirements that the Right-to Know Law imposes on Pennsylvania's community colleges and state-owned universities. Still, it does shed a bit more light on spending habits of the four schools, which collectively received $657 million in state taxpayer money this year.

A check last week by the Post-Gazette found that all four schools posted Form 990 information and salary lists to their Web sites as required -- though how easily the links were to spot varied greatly.

Finding Temple's data -- www.temple.edu/about/PublicInformation.htm -- was easiest because the school posted a link to it on its home page under the heading "Public Information."

Other links were harder to find.

Those seeking Penn State's data must go to the corporate controller's page -- www.controller.psu.edu -- where the information is found on the right hand side under "news and updates."

Finding Lincoln University's information -- located at www.lincoln.edu/business/index.html -- required clicking on the faculty and staff box on the university's home page, then selecting the business office from among a list of academic departments. Once on that page, a link to the data is located above the listing of business office staff.

At Pitt, users must search for the office of budget and controller page, where the data is listed under "resource links" as "Right-to-Know Disclosure" link to its Web address, www.bc.pitt.edu/documents/2007Form990-2.pdf.

The revised Right-to-Know Law makes it easier for some direct spending comparisons between Pitt and Penn State, which draw large numbers of this region's students.

Not surprisingly, spending amounts were often larger at Penn State, which has two dozen campuses and roughly 84,000 students, not counting online education -- more than twice the 34,000 students who attend one of Pitt's five campuses.

Legal fees were a different matter.

Pitt reported spending $8 million in legal fees in 2007-08, more than twice the nearly $3.5 million reported by Penn State. In fact, Pitt's total legal fees eclipsed the combined sums of the three other state-related schools.

Pitt also spent more for accounting fees than Penn State -- $740,554, compared to $633,500.

In the area of lobbying, Penn State and its Hershey Medical Center reported spending $830,085 to influence federal, state and local legislation.

Pitt, which is separate from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, reported a much smaller lobbying sum on its Form 990 -- $106,614.

That figure is a fraction of what a Washington, D.C., watchdog group that monitors lobbying says Pitt spent on federal lobbying alone that year. Using data from the U.S. Senate Office of Public Records, the Center for Responsive Politics said Pitt's expenditures for federal lobbying totaled $570,000, not counting UPMC. It put Penn State's figure at $380,000.

Asked about the discrepancy, Pitt spokesman Robert Hill said Congressional rules for reporting lobbying expenses are different than those for the Form 990, so the dollar totals would naturally differ.

He did not address why Pitt spent more for accounting fees than Penn State. With regard to why his school's legal costs outpaced the other state-related schools, he said, "Pitt can only be responsible for reporting its fees and cannot explain the legal fees of other institutions."

In all, the $3.5 billion in total expenses reported by Penn State in 2007-08 included $2.8 billion for program services, $643.8 million for management and general expenses, and $46.9 million for fundraising.

By comparison, the nearly $1.7 billion in total expenditures reported by Pitt included $1.5 billion for program services, $172 million for management and general expenses and $12.5 million for fundraising activities.

According to Penn State's data, the 25 highest salaried employees other than officers of the university all work in medicine, except for Mr. Paterno, whose university salary, including bonuses and pay for TV and radio appearances, totaled $1,037,322.

The next highest earner identified by the university was Robert Harbaugh, chair of the department of neurosurgery, who received $789,492.

At Pitt, the 25 highest paid non-officer employees included 20 in medicine or other health fields, three athletic coaches and one employee each in information technology and education research.

The highest paid on Pitt's list was men's basketball coach James P. Dixon II at $937,600, followed by head football coach David R. Wannstedt at $924,332.