Numbers

EDUCATION

$1 million

Yearly salary of presidents at 12 private universities for the 2005-06 academic year. Of the 68 community-college presidents surveyed by the Chronicle of Higher Education, about half made less than $250,000 per year

81

Number of private-college presidents earning more than $500,000 per year. Only three earned that much a decade ago

SMOKING

$1

Proposed federal excise tax on cigarettes, a 61¢-per-pack increase. The extra funds would help finance a proposed increase of approximately $35 billion for S-CHIP, a federal children’s health-insurance bill

73

Number of times Congress has increased the sales tax on cigarettes since 2000

BROADWAY

$17 million

Cost per day to the city of New York for the Broadway stagehand strike, which comes during one of the industry’s busiest seasons

27

Number of plays and musicals–from The Lion King to Mamma Mia! to The Little Mermaid–currently shuttered

DELECTABLES

$25,000

Cost of the world’s most expensive dessert. Made of milk, cocoa, 5 g of 24-karat gold, gold-flecked whipped cream and shavings from a rare chocolate truffle, it’s available at New York City’s Serendipity 3, which has yet to sell one

$25,200

Price of the 2008 Toyota Camry Hybrid

Sources: New York Times (2); AP (2); Wall Street Journal (2); New York Times; Toyota