Despite pressure on institutions of higher learning to hold down costs, the compensation of private college presidents continues to climb, up 5.6 percent between 2012 and 2013 to a median of $436,000, according to an annual survey.

The ranking of salaries at 497 colleges contained some expected names among the top 10 earners in 2013, including Columbia University’s Lee C. Bollinger, the longest-serving president of an Ivy League university. Mr. Bollinger’s compensation totaled $4.6 million, which the university said included $1.17 million in base pay, an incentive payment of $940,000, use of a university residence, and other deferred compensation, placing him at No. 1 on the list.

Ranking second is the University of Pennsylvania’s Amy Gutmann, who received just over $3 million, according to the survey, by The Chronicle of Higher Education, a publication that specializes in news for college faculty and administrators. Ms. Gutmann’s compensation included a salary of about $1.17 million and a bonus of nearly $1.48 million according to the survey.

But the list also contained some surprises. Placing third is the president of High Point University, a relatively obscure school in North Carolina with an enrollment of about 4,000. The university’s president, Nido Qubein, received $2.9 million, which included a $2.2 million deferred compensation distribution.