Just three of GW’s 14 peer schools paid associate professors a higher salary on average than GW last year, according to data released Monday by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Still, seven schools paid full and assistant professors more than GW. Provost Steven Lerman said last month that GW faculty’s salaries for last year were in line with past years, in addition to how the University compared to its peers.

Full professors were paid on average $162,135. Associate professors were paid an average of about $109,600, while assistant professors made about $87,140 on average at GW, according to the data.

GW also submitted the average salary for instructors and unknown-ranked faculty members:  about $79,500 and $81,018 on average, respectively.

The University submits the data to the U.S. Department of Education Integrated Postsecondary Data System annually.

Compensation has become a major issue for University employees this year. Groups like the Faculty Senate, the Faculty Association and the Staff Association have pushed for bigger benefits packages, which they say makes their total compensation lower than their peers at other institutions. And faculty and staff have warned that since officials scaled back benefits packages this fall, they could struggle to hire top-notch staff in the future.

Of GW’s peer schools, New York and Northwestern universities paid all three tiers of faculty higher than GW. Faculty at NYU likely also handle a higher cost-of-living, since New York is the most expensive city in the country, according to Kiplinger.