Eight of the 10 chancellors in the UC system were approved for 3 percent salary increases Wednesday.

Chancellors from all UC campuses except UC Berkeley and UC Davis, along with the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will receive increased salaries effective this year, according to the agenda item. UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ and UC Davis Chancellor Gary May, who joined the universities in July and August, respectively, were not included in the salary increase recommendation.

According to UC spokesperson Stephanie Beechem, UC chancellors’ salaries are consistently lower than those of chancellors at other Association of American Universities, or AAU, institutions. Student regent Paul Monge, however, expressed concern over the pay raises in light of the proposal outlined in the university’s 2018-19 preliminary budget to increase systemwide tuition.

“Here we are asking students to pay more, workers to take a cut, but (we’re) willing to inflate salaries for senior administrators,” Monge said. “It seems like doublespeak that we’re in tough financial times and need to raise tuition, (but) are still adding salary increases.”

The university’s highest paid chancellor is UC San Francisco Chancellor Samuel Hawgood, whose salary increased from $795,675 to $819,545. At the bottom of the pay scale are the chancellors of UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside and UC Merced, whose salaries increased from $394,655 to $406,495.

All chancellor salaries are partially or fully funded by the state.

Rafi Sands, student adviser to the UC regents, said he believed the university’s merit-based salary increases were often unfair to chancellors who had been with the university for a longer period of time.

“Newer chancellors often get paid more because they get paid at the starting rate. … Older chancellors get paid less. (That’s) not the way it’s supposed to be. There needs to be a more fair and in-writing policy,” Sands said.