Not that anger over presidential pay ever went out of style, but President Obama’s new pay limit for CEO’s has provided ammunition to critics of college presidents’ salaries.

The Treasury Department’s plan, announced on Wednesday, would cap annual salaries at $500,000 for top executives of companies that receive substantial amounts of federal bailout money. The plan includes exceptions for restricted stock, and is more rigid for companies receiving future “exceptional assistance” from the government.

The rules do not apply to college presidents, of course. While universities are among the possible recipients of stimulus money, those funds would not be handed down directly from the federal government, as it was with banks and other corporations. But as was the case with tightened accounting rules in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom collapses, the spirit of the new regulations might trickle down to colleges.

And the corporate pay cap has inspired many commentators to take shots at the scores of college presidents who make more than $500,000 a year. Weighing in so far have been bloggers hailing from faculty and conservative circles, a prominent newspaper columnist, and several commenters on The Chronicle’s Web site.

At least one similarity exists between the pay of corporate and college chiefs: Both groups have compensation packages that may be complex enough to get around salary caps. For example, companies could use deferred compensation and stock awards to exploit loopholes in the Obama administration’s plan, The Wall Street Journal reports. Many university presidents also earn deferred compensation. —Paul Fain