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 In the 2011-12 fiscal year, the nation’s highest paid public university president was Graham B. Spanier, the president of Pennsylvania State University, who was forced out in November 2011 over his handling of a child sex abuse scandal involving a football coach. 
 
 According to the annual compensation report by The Chronicle of Higher Education, Mr. Spanier was paid $2.9 million in 2011-12, including $1.2 million in severance pay and $1.2 million in deferred compensation. 
 
 “The fact that Graham Spanier turns out to be the highest paid president in the country says something about the nature of compensation packages for people who leave under a cloud,” said Jack Stripling, the Chronicle reporter who worked on the survey. “Severance agreements are often very lucrative.” 
 
 Three other public university presidents also had compensation topping $1 million: Jay Gogue of Auburn University, at $2,542,865; E. Gordon Gee of Ohio State University, at $1,899,420; and Alan G. Merten of George Mason University, at $1,869,369. Mr. Merten retired from George Mason last June after 16 years as president. 
 
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 Mr. Gee, who in 2007 became the first public university president to earn more than $1 million, had a base salary last year of $830,439, the highest among the 212 chief executives included in the Chronicle report. He is known for prodigious fund-raising energy, which has brought the university more than $1.6 billion since he took the post, and for the lavish lifestyle his job supports, including a rent-free mansion with an elevator, a pool and a tennis court and flights on private jets. 
 
 Mr. Stripling said there had been a sea change in the last few years, with the rich getting richer and some pay packages exceeding not just $1 million, but $2 million. Deferred compensation agreements can increase pay drastically, as was the case with Mr. Gogue, whose pay went from $720,000 to $2.5 million in a single year when he completed a five-year contract. 
 
 But the biggest growth last year, Mr. Stripling said, was in the $600,000 to $700,000 range, a category that included 28 chief executives, up from only 13 the previous year. 
 
 According to the Chronicle report, the median total compensation for the presidents of public research universities was $441,392, up 4.7 percent from the previous year’s $421,395. The median base salary, $373,800, was up 2 percent from $366,519 the previous year. 
 
 Rounding out the top 10 earners were Jo Ann M. Gora of Ball State University ($984,647); Mary Sue Coleman of the University of Michigan system ($918,783); Charles W. Steger of Virginia Tech ($857,749); Mark G. Yudof of the University of California system ($847,149); Bernard J. Machen of the University of Florida ($834,562); and Francisco G. Cigarroa of the University of Texas system ($815,833). ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 / Updated By Alex Johnson 
 
 Penn State University has spent more than $92 million in the last two years on settlements and related costs in the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal — and it could still face claims from six or even more alleged victims, according to university documents published this week. 
 
 The university settled with 26 victims of Sandusky, 71, a longtime assistant to legendary head football coach Joe Paterno, for about $60 million in October 2013. Sandusky was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison in October 2012 for having abused 10 boys he met over 15 years through his charity for troubled children. 
 
 Sandusky has maintained his innocence, and he appeared in court as recently as last month seeking a new trial. 
 
 Related: Jerry Sandusky's Wife: Victims 'Were Manipulated, and They Saw Money' 
 
 In its audited financial statement for fiscal year 2015, which ended June 30, the university reported this week that it has paid or set aside a total of $92.8 million for 32 claims — including $33.2 million for related costs on top of the previously reported settlement payouts. 
 
 "Additional claims could be paid in the future," the statement said. 
 
 The university has previously disclosed in legal filings that it rejected the claims of six other alleged victims when it concluded the 2013 settlement. 
 
 It couldn't be determined Wednesday night whether those six people are the same as the six extra claimants mentioned in the financial statement. But the additional $33.2 million in financial liabilities over the two years don't appear to have been direct payments to any claimant: The university said they were for "internal investigation, legal, communications and other related costs." 
 
 The statement offered no further details. University offices are closed through the weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday. 
 
 The scandal deeply rocked Penn State and State College, Pennsylvania, where it is based. 
 
 Paterno, who previously was a revered figure representing integrity in college football, was fired amid allegations that he didn't properly report concerns about Sandusky to authorities. He died in January 2012 at age 85. 
 
 Related: Ex-Coach Jerry Sandusky Should Get His Public Pension Back: Court 
 
 University President Graham Spanier, Athletic Director Tim Curley and Senior Vice President Gary Schultz were all forced out of their jobs. They await trials on charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and other counts, accused of having interfered with the investigation and then having lied about it to a grand jury. 
 
 A state judge this month ruled that the state must restore Sandusky's $4,900-a-month pension because he wasn't formally a state employee when he committed the crimes he was convicted of.
– Last year, four public university presidents boasted compensation of more than $1 million, a study finds. At the top: Graham Spanier, the former Penn State president driven out by the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal. Spanier made $2.9 million in the 2011-2012 fiscal year; part of that was his $1.2 million severance pay, the New York Times reports. "The fact that Graham Spanier turns out to be the highest paid president in the country says something about the nature of compensation packages for people who leave under a cloud," says a reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education, which conducted the study. Meanwhile, Jay Gogue, at Auburn University, saw compensation of $2.54 million. Ohio State's Gordon Gee earned $1.9 million—along with his rent-free mansion and private jet. George Mason's Alan Merten received $1.87 million. Compensation has soared in recent years, says the Chronicle reporter; Gogue's pay, for instance, jumped from $700,000 to $2.5 million in a year. And 28 presidents were making between $600,000 and $700,000 last year, compared to 13 the prior year. Median compensation among public research university presidents was $441,392.