Deferred compensation and other benefits push the pay package for University of Hawaii President M.R.C. Greenwood and UH Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple past the half-million dollar mark.

Apple earns more in total compensation than the retiring Greenwood, according to a survey of public university president’s pay released Sunday.

 The Chronicle of Higher Education survey adds deferred compensation plans to the base salary to come up with a total compensation pay package. Deferred compensation plans, meant as retention incentives, give executives a lump sum after a specified number of years on the job.

Both leaders’ pay packages are above the median of $441,392, for public university presidents.

According to the survey, Apple’s total pay in 2011-2012 was $504,859, which includes $65,851 in retirement pay. Greenwood’s base pay of $427,512 is supplemented by $64,127 in retirement benefits for a total package of $491,639. Greenwood also gets a housing allowance of $60,000 a year and a car allowance of $3,912, which would put her total package at $551,551. Apple receives a $3,312 annual car allowance.

Apple was the 75th highest-paid public university president out of 191 institutions surveyed. Greenwood ranked 79th.

Former UH Manoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw made $396,612 in 2011-12. Her deferred compensatoin was $51,732 in addition to her base pay of $344,880. She also received $24,000 in a housing allowance and $3,312 in an annual car allowance. She was the 131st highest paid university chief executive.

Four university presidents made more than $1 million, according to the survey.

Former Penn State President Graham Spanier was the highest paid public college president of 2011-12 when he was forced out over his handling of the sex abuse scandal involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The Chronicle of Higher Education’s annual ranking of public college presidents’ earnings said Spanier’s $2.9 million pay, which included $1.2 million in severance and $1.2 million in deferred compensation, put him well ahead of his peers when he left Penn State in November 2011.

Former Florida A&M University President James Ammons also saw his place on the earning list rise amid scandal. He ranked 11th at $781,000 after collecting $422,000 in severance and bonuses when he resigned in the wake of the hazing death of a marching band member.

Other  public higher education chief executives making more than $1 million were Auburn University President Jay Gogue, who received $2.5 million; E. Gordon Gee of Ohio State University, who earned $1.9 million; and now-retired George Mason University’s Alan Merten, whose total pay plus benefits and deferred compensation totaled $1.87 million.

A separate analysis of the pay of private college presidents released by the Chronicle in December found 36 leaders received $1 million or more in 2010. The numbers are older because of lag time in the release of the federal tax information on which they are based.

The public college data is based on a survey of institutions. It analyzed compensation of 212 presidents at 191 public research institutions. The leaders outnumbered institutions because the survey included those whose tenures began or ended during the fiscal year.

CLARIFICATION: The state contributed $64,127 to University of Hawaii President M.R.C. Greenwood’s state retirement plan in addition to her base pay of $427,512.

An earlier version of this story characterized the payment as deferred compensation, instead of a retirement benefit. Greenwood’s total compensation, including the retirement contribution, is $555,551, not $501,551 as earlier reported.