ST. PAUL, Minn. — A special University of Minnesota regents committee will weigh whether closer scrutiny is needed for compensating the school’s top administrators.

With the cost of tuition rising and student debt growing, the three-member committee will examine board and administration policies on executive pay packages. Committee chairman Richard Beeson says the panel will study current practices in the private, public and nonprofit sectors.

A regents committee issued a report in 2006 that encouraged then-President Robert Bruininks to establish principles for administrative pay and keep the board informed. Beeson says university leaders didn’t follow through on the committee’s recommendation.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press (http://bit.ly/HD3Icf ) reports regents were surprised to learn that top administrators who resumed teaching maintained executive pay, rather than the lower faculty rates.