Dan
Your questions are a little confusing, so I will answer them as best as I can.

For one thing, colleges and universities do not impose "special levy taxes" upon us. Even though some are state funded, they get to charge tuition fees (user fees) and that makes all the difference. The party that is seeking the benefits is paying for those benefits! When professors are funded privately, I really don't care how much they are being paid because it's not our money.

If people want to pay those huge fees for those kind of schools, I say let them pay it because it’s a "free enterprise". But when they go to colleges that are paid for with public monies, the free enterprise system should not be used in my opinion.

If you talking a bout "private institutions", I would agree that they would have a much better knowledge on what they should or should not be paying their professors. But if they are using public funds, then they must abide by what the public thinks the wages should be. Professors have more training then teachers do, so they should be entitled to higher salaries.

It's really no different then any other profession. You will always make more in a private sector then in a like profession in a public position. The big difference there is usually in "rules", and "benefits" that separate the two positions.

Cowlitzfisherman