At the top echelon of higher education, boards have to pay to play when hiring a president. "The Chronicle"'s latest survey of executive compensation shows what might be described as the minimum pay now required at the top institutions. At public research universities, the minimum compensation among the big players is roughly $450,000. In the 2006-7 fiscal year, 56 of the 182 public institutions in the survey paid their president at least that amount. Among private institutions, the median compensation of leaders of research institutions rose 37 percent in the last five years of the survey, to $528,105. That is faster than the rate of increase over the same period for presidents of master's (30 percent) or baccalaureate (28 percent) institutions. The competition for presidents at the highest levels is becoming more intense, and pay is going up accordingly. This year, for the first time, "The Chronicle" survey includes a broad look at the salaries of presidents of the largest community colleges. The median salary of the community-college leaders was about $250,000, about the same as a master's-level private college, even though some community colleges have far more students than many research institutions. (Contains 3 figures and 1 table.)