Private colleges and universities typically have more flexibility than their public counterparts in setting top executive pay, as evidenced by new data made public Sunday night showing eight private higher education leaders made more than $2 million in 2016, compared with just one public president. Likewise, in Iowa, the highest-earning university or college president hails from the private Grinnell College, where President Raynard Kington made a total $682,623 in 2016, according to a new report from The Chronicle of Higher Education, based on the most recent data available.