UK is one of LEX’s largest employers, and when the Lexington Herald-Leader recently combed through the school’s database to identify the top paid employees at the school, they found the ten highest salaries ranged between $1.1 million and $1.7 million.
That got us thinking — how does pay for other employees, like part-time or student workers, compare? We used the database to find out.
Student employees
Fun fact: Did you know 5,000 students make up UK’s staff? While they weren’t included in the database, they’re often the ones you see helping operate the school’s facilities, selling tickets at the box office, or even in classroom settings as lab assistants.
In July 2023, UK’s federal work-study student employees saw their wages grow from $8.25 per hour to $12 per hour as part of the school’s 2023-24 budget.
Part-time employees
The university’s part-time employee roles range anywhere from instructors, office administrators, technicians, and temp positions.
Of the 24,800 salaries listed in the database, part-time workers made up around ~26%, with their pay ranging from $25 per hour to the highest coming in at $78,998 annually for a Senior Respiratory Therapist at UK Healthcare.
Full-time employees
School administrators and athletics staff were among the highest paid employees at the school, but the majority of full-time roles held at UK include professors, research specialists, healthcare workers, and administrators.
UK employs around 3,200 full-time workers, with the average salary coming in at $74,527 and the median salary sitting at $58,400. If you want to see exactly who is making what, the Herald-Leader broke down the top 10.