ATLANTA (AP) — The head of Georgia's university system says million-dollar pay packages are justified for the presidents of Georgia Tech and Georgia State University.

University System Chancellor Hank Huckaby told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the pay raises are retention tools. He said Georgia Tech President Bud Peterson and Georgia State President Mark Becker are paid at a rate that responds to market conditions.

Critics accuse college administrators of being tone deaf as college tuition increases, students take on more debt and wages remain flat for faculty and staff.

Political science professor Gary Kline, who teaches at Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, recently sent a letter to Huckaby saying the university system increasingly resembles a corporation where CEOs get big raises but other workers get little.

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