In what could be the beginning of a disturbing trend, the University of California has been giving incoming administrators massive pay increases over their predecessors. We're not sure which is worse: The indifference behind administrative pay hikes while the UC is sinking into deep financial crisis, or that these increases tend to have a snowball effect that costs students and taxpayers big money.

Both aspects are unsettling. What message does it send to the qualified, hard-working students who have been denied access to their university of choice because budget cuts have capped enrollment? Or the ones who are struggling to pay higher tuition costs? Administrative pay hikes rarely stop with one or two people, but spread like a virus (a taxpayer-funded one, at that).

Two months ago the UC Santa Cruz chancellor was given the job of UC system provost at a salary of $380,000 nearly $100,000 more than the previous provost was paid, the San Francisco Chronicle reported last week in a survey of UC salaries. Recently, a new UC San Diego chancellor was hired for $350,000 a year, about $70,000 more than the previous chancellor earned. UC chancellors are also provided with a car and on-campus housing. Meanwhile, searches are being conducted for new chancellors at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz.

The official justifications were familiar: competitiveness and the need to attract top talent. Since when is a salary in the high-$200,000s, with a car and free housing in California not competitive?

As government watchers know well, these types of salary hikes become the justification for giving raises to others with similar jobs who are at or near the top. Other university systems follow suit, in order to be competitive with those that have just raised salaries.

Yes, the UC system does need to attract top leaders to its campuses. But right now the system is freezing teacher and staff salaries, demanding more tuition money from students, and cutting enrollment. It's not the time to be giving such extraordinary pay increases to incoming administrators.