The annual income of a Cambridge college master can vary by more than £80,000, with some earning little more than £50,000, while others are listed in pay bands above £130,000, Varsity has found.

Freedom of Information requests and college accounts can reveal the salaries of Heads of House at 19 undergraduate colleges in the last two years.

The lowest disclosed was Selwyn’s master, on £51,780, while, at the upper end, several masters appeared in pay brackets of £120,000-£130,000 or higher.

Clare’s master, for example, was recorded in the June 2024 accounts as either in the £130,000-£140,000 or £160,000-£170,000 renumeration band, though the College, despite being approached for comment, did not clarify which.

Meanwhile, Peterhouse reported a salary between £117,994 and £132,669, Trinity Hall placed its master in the £120,000-£130,000 range, and Robinson’s Warden received £110,000-£130,000.

Girton’s mistress earned between £110,000 and £125,000, excluding national insurance contributions and other benefits, according to the College.

Trinity, which has the largest endowment of any Oxbridge college at over £2 billion as of 2023's accounts, also ranked in the middle of the upper tier, with its master on £118,211.

At the other end of the scale, Corpus Christi’s master earned £56,405, only slightly higher than Selwyn. Magdalene and Churchill’s Heads of House both fell in the £60,000-£70,000 bracket.

Several colleges clustered around the £100,000-£110,000 mark, including Sidney Sussex, Jesus, Emmanuel and Christ’s. Newnham’s Principal (£109,850), Homerton’s Principal (£110,000-£120,000) and Pembroke’s master (£112,900) also fell within this band.

The figures come from a mixture of sources: the latest college accounts (mostly for the year ending June 2024), FOI data (as of August 2025), and communications from individual colleges. Some colleges reported precise salaries, others only pay bands, while several declined to disclose data at all.

Approaches to including salary benefits such as accommodation, pension contributions, and National Insurance also varied, depending on whether masters were categorised as full-time or part-time employees. Direct comparisons must therefore be treated with caution.

In 2018, a similar Varsity investigation uncovered wide disparities in Heads of House pay, with salaries ranging from £31,000 at Fitzwilliam to nearly £93,000 at Robinson.

At the time, most masters earned under £80,000, with only three breaking the £90,000 mark. Since then, the top salaries have risen significantly, keeping pace with – and in some cases outstripping – inflation.

In addition to salaries, many Heads of House receive expenses covering entertainment, accommodation and travel.

While some Heads of House, at colleges such as Newnham, Queens’, and Christ’s, chose not to claim expenses, Freedom of Information requests show that others claimed more substantial sums.

Homerton’s Principal recorded the largest set of reimbursements, with around £15,000 spent on travel in a single year, alongside £2,000 for accommodation and smaller amounts for hospitality, subsistence, and professional services.

St John’s master also reported a sizeable total of £12,959, including almost £11,000 on overseas trips to Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland, and the United States.

Meanwhile, Corpus Christi’s master claimed £7,816 across a broad range of categories, including nearly £800 on books, £164 on ‘cleaning,’ £661 on ‘entertainment,’ and £106 on flowers.

Girton College, Clare College, Selwyn College, Trinity College, and Corpus Christi College were all contacted for comment.