University of Cambridge VC lives rent free in mansion, despite annual pay of over £500k

The University of Cambridge is still paying for the £5 million mansion inhabited by the vice-chancellor, despite her pay package of over half a million per year.

Vice-Chancellor’s Lodge has been home to the university’s leaders since 1990, and is now valued at over £5 million.

Professor Deborah Prentice, the vice-chancellor, is staying in a self-contained flat within the Lodge, which occupies just under half of the building. The remaining rooms are used for university business.

She received the largest pay increase of vice-chancellors in the UK in 2024 with a 16 per cent increase, taking her total pay to £577,000.

via YouTube

The detached property is inside a conservation area, featuring an extensive garden and pond, and is on a private road intended to “retain the character of a country lane.”

The Lodge is near to the university’s botanical gardens and was refurbished in 2017 at a cost of £700,000 to enhance its offerings as an “events venue” for guests.

The vice-chancellors extensive pay packet includes a £42,000 relocation subsidy. The Times reports that the pay rise was justified by the university as a necessary cost to attract and retain high-performing leadership at one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the world.

The Daily Mail estimated that the property is the most expensive vice-chancellor accommodation in the UK.

Recently, the vice-chancellors of and Stirling University and the University of Edinburgh have been under fire after Freedom of Information requests from The Tab Edinburgh and The Courier revealed their vice-principals were living rent free in mansions paid for by their universities.

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Sir Peter Mathieson, the vice-chancellor of Edinburgh University could not recall his own salary when questioned by Douglas Ross MSP at a hearing about the higher education financial crisis earlier this year.

He earns £438,000 per year, and lives in a New Town mansion worth £2 million on one of Scotland’s most expensive streets. The Tab Edinburgh found that the university was also paying over £8,000 for his council tax, electricity and gas bills in the 2023/24 financial year.

Similarly, Stirling’s Sir Gerry McCormac lives rent-free in a house on campus, despite earning £414,000, after pay rises of £119,000 in just two years.

Staff and students previously described the increase as “appalling” and “disgusting,” dubbing him “Greedy Gerry”, according to The Tab Glasgow.

Featured image via Google Maps and YouTube

The University of Cambridge was contacted for comment.