HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Amid co-op’s money trouble, director’s pay hit $750,000.

It’s been a tough few years for the University Co-op.

Sales have plunged by more than 25 percent since 2010 at the nonprofit bookstore that sells everything from textbooks to T-shirts. Its contributions to University of Texas programs have plummeted from $2.3 million a year to $10,000. And this year, for the first time since 1990, the century-old Co-op ran in the red. . . .

But despite the continuing decline in revenue, the Co-op’s chief executive has continued to receive generous salaries. Between 2011 and 2013 — the years in which the Co-op’s sales dropped — George Mitchell was paid more than $1.6 million. In 2011, Mitchell made $753,000, about $90,000 more than UT President Bill Powers did that year.

More than I make, too.