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Chancellor Pradeep Khosla will join UC President Janet Napolitano and nine other UC Chancellors in taking a voluntary 10 percent pay cut for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, according to a letter by Napolitano. This comes as a part of a UC systemwide effort to make up for the financial losses estimated to occur as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chancellor Khosla himself had a gross salary of $477,384 in 2018, which is the most recent official data available. This suggests that Khosla will be taking an approximately $48,000 pay cut.

Napolitano’s letter also discussed how there will be systemwide freezes on salaries for policy-covered staff, and freezes on salary scales for non-student academic appointees who are policy-covered.

“Like many other organizations, UC is facing significant financial impacts as a result of the pandemic,” Napolitano wrote. “From mid-March through April alone, we estimate that systemwide financial losses totaled nearly $1.2 billion, and we anticipate these losses will continue to climb in the months ahead.”

The university anticipates that these changes will help to alleviate some of the financial stress caused by the pandemic, and may offset the proposed 10 percent cut in state funding as outlined in Governor Gavin Newsom’s latest budget proposal.

“We continue to work closely with the State of California and the federal government to secure any and all additional funding available to help address the shortfalls,” Napolitano wrote. “Much of this funding is designated for student financial aid, and while we are grateful for the funding, we do not anticipate full reimbursement for our losses.”

UC San Diego has already begun to modify its expenditures as a result of these anticipated financial challenges. Khosla released a statement on May 7, 2020 which outlined his prediction that the campus would lose hundreds of millions of dollars throughout the pandemic.

UCSD has already begun to reduce expenditures by cutting down on hiring and halting construction on any projects that are in the design phase.

The UC Office of the President will work with campus administrations in the coming weeks to develop new budget scenarios which account for any anticipated budget cuts, as well as reaching out to union leaders and looking for ways to reduce spending on items such as non-essential travel.

The UCSD Guardian has reached out to the university for comment, and will continue to monitor this story as it develops.

Photo courtesy of the UCSD Office of the Chancellor.

This article was updated at 11:20 am to include Chancellor Khosla’s 2018 gross salary.