HARRISBURG — The chancellor of Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities is defending raises made available to about 1,500 nonunion administrators, even as state officials predicted a very difficult budget year.

Chancellor John Cavanaugh said today at a Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon that the administrators hadn’t had a raise in 2Z\x years.

A system spokesman says the average 3 percent merit raises went into effect Jan. 1 at a cost of about $6 million a year out of a $1.4 billion system budget.

Asked whether he would give back his pay raise or ask other administrators to do so, he says the board of governors sets compensation levels. He also pointed out that the system’s unionized work force of about 12,000 received raises last year.