Indian-origin University of California San Diego chancellor gets $500,000 pay raise

After the hike in his salary, Khosla will be earning $1.14 million a year in base pay beginning Monday, May 1.

While the private sector employees reel under the scare of layoffs in the aftermath of job cuts by tech giant Google, an Indian-American computer scientist Pradeep Kumar Khosla has a contrasting story to tell. Khosla who is the eighth chancellor of University of California, San Diego has received a pay raise by a whopping $500,000.

Pradeep Kumar Khosla is the eighth chancellor of University of California, San Diego.(UC San Diego Website)

After the hike in his salary, Khosla will be earning $1.14 million a year in base pay beginning Monday, May 1. It will make him the highest-paid chancellor among nine others who lead University of California campuses.

As per reports, the University of California Board of Regents made the decision of Khosla's pay hike, to prevent him from accepting the presidency of an unnamed, private, out-of-state college.

Khosla took up the role of Chancellor in the University in 2012 and under his aegis and leadership, the enrollment at San Diego increased from about 28,000 to more than 43,000 students. He also played pivotal role in ensuring that the growing student housing needs were met through campus expansion.

“There was a very, very strong commitment from the community to get this done because of what Pradeep has meant to San Diego, including helping to bring the Blue Line trolley to campus and building lots of housing,” said University of California Board of Regents chair Rich Lieb.

The raise in Khosla's salary will be paid for with private fund donations to the University. Lieb informed media that private donors in the San Diego area collectively contributed about $13 million to endow a chair whose interest income will cover the added expenses.