Joe Biden Gets Paid — a Lot — for Speeches, and He’s Not Middle-Class

Last October, Joe Biden traveled to the University of Buffalo and delivered a half-hour speech, took questions from the audience for 45 minutes, and signed books. He offered the assembled audience bits of wisdom, such as, “Our leaders need to lower the temperature of our public dialogue.”

The University of Buffalo Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, paid Biden $200,000 for the speech, the Q&A, the signing, as well as a photo opportunity, a “meet and greet with up to 16 attendees,’” and an interview with reporters to the college newspaper, according to Biden’s contract.

It was one of several six-figure speaking engagements Biden had with colleges and universities in 2017 and 2018. Brown University got a relative bargain, with Biden reporting $92,642 in income from that appearance. Biden reported $100,000 from Long Island University, $124,515 from Southern Connecticut State University, $180,000 from Vanderbilt University, and $190,000 from Drew University.

When you’re a famous former government official, lucrative opportunities abound. In addition to the speeches, the University of Pennsylvania paid Biden $371,159 in 2017 plus $540,484 in 2018 and early 2019, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, “for a vaguely defined role that involved no regular classes and around a dozen public appearances on campus, mostly in big, ticketed events.” Biden is being paid two to two-and-a-half times the average salary of a Penn professor, and he’s not teaching any classes.

During the 2016 presidential campaign cycle, Hillary Clinton received some grief about her speaking fees, including a $225,000 fee from a public university where Clinton gave a speech  lamenting