The public discussion about the hefty salaries of university authorities was reignited this week, in a context of marches and debates in the Congress regarding public education. The Minister of Economy, Luis "Toto" Caputo, confronted the Vice Chancellor of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Emiliano Yacobitti, accusing him of receiving an income six times higher than that of a minister of the Executive Branch.
"He earns six times more than I do and any minister, since we have received the same salary since we took office. But we're the ones who lack empathy...", Caputo pointed out, emphasizing that the libertarian cabinet has kept its salaries frozen since December 2023, at around 4 million pesos (8,818 USD) gross.
Emiliano Yacobitti
Yacobitti's response was immediate and filled with personal disqualifications: "What he says is false. Because of the position he holds, he has all the information to find out. Now I not only confirm that he lacks empathy but also that he's a bad person". To support his position, he released a pay stub corresponding to August 2025.
However, the maneuver was exposed: the published document clearly specified that it was his salary as a tenured professor, not as Vice Chancellor. The net amount reached 1,817,751 pesos (4,008 USD), out of a total gross of 2,509,395 pesos (5,530 USD), with detailed items such as base salary (1,380,083 pesos [3,043 USD]), seniority (1,104,066 pesos [2,434 USD]), and other additional payments.
The controversy grew when it was revealed that Yacobitti had publicly declared earning a total of 2.1 million pesos (4,632 USD), while his credit card expenses exceeded 6.4 million pesos (14,130 USD) in a single month. The contradiction raised doubts not only about his credibility but also about the true level of income he receives as Vice Chancellor, which has never been made transparent.
El tweet de Clarin.
Despite the evidence, the newspaper Clarín came out in defense of Yacobitti, presenting the teaching pay stub as if it were that of the Vice Chancellor, spreading a misleading version on social media: "The Vice Chancellor of UBA denied Caputo's claims and showed his pay stub". A media operation that, far from clarifying, ended up reinforcing suspicions of concealment and collusion.
Meanwhile, the Undersecretary of University Policies, Alejandro Álvarez, provided official data: 14 rectors of national universities receive gross salaries between 8 and 18 million pesos (17,636 and 39,705 USD), while another 33 receive between 5 and 8 million pesos (11,023 and 17,636 USD). Barely a dozen rectors are below 5 million pesos (11,023 USD), figures that far exceed the presidential income.
Caputo deepened his criticism on social media: "Until people like you are gone, this country will never change. The country these people propose is already known: it's the one we inherited in December 2023. There's only one thing worse than that, its continuation", he stated.
