Employees protested last year on several University of California campuses over news that deductions from their paychecks would begin this summer to cover the increasing cost of their pension plan. But the planned deductions have been called off for now, university officials say, thanks to impressive investment returns on the university’s $48-billion retirement pool.

University employees have not contributed to the pension plan since 1990. But with 37,000 retirees covered by the plan, projections showed last year that its costs could not be borne by investments alone. The university’s Board of Regents voted in 2006 to resume employee contributions last month. However, the plan earned 19 percent on investments in the 2006-7 fiscal year. Employee contributions were scrapped until at least July 2008, but are likely to resume at some point, university officials say. —Paul Fain