The fact that women like height and money is uncontroversial (sorry dude). I wouldn't believe any exact numbers about how much of one converts to how much of the other.

It could be true in this case though due to the nonlinear utility of money. This guy's a professor of computer science at Duke so he's presumably making good money, maybe $150K? The difference between making $150K and $190K is pretty unimportant, like an extra inch in height, whereas the difference between making $40K and $80K is important, like an extra (I dunno) five inches in height.

For this particular guy, he could probably increase his attractiveness by an equal amount by spending fifty bucks on a decent haircut.