The university has lowered the heat in campus housing to try to save money to make up for the $2.3 million in state-funding cutbacks that have been proposed by the governor.

In an effort to heal a suffering state budget during the national recession, the state has said it may recall about $600,000 from Eastern’s appropriation and ask the university to pay for employee health insurance, which administrators say could cost as much as $1.7 million.

Mark Hudson, director of Housing and Dining, said that the university is looking to save energy costs in light of the budget cuts by keeping campus-housing heat at 68 degrees this winter instead of the normal 70 degrees.

However, he said the heat is still in the “comfort zone,” which is between 67 to 71 degrees.

For the past five years, the heat in campus housing was set at 70 degrees. Lowering it by two degrees lowers the university utility bill by 2 percent, which before the cutbacks equaled $2.2 million, Hudson said.

“Obviously, our main priority is in the comfort of the students,” Hudson said.

While some students have complained about cold rooms, others haven’t seemed to notice the change, residence hall directors said Sunday.

Temperature complaints are handled by the residence hall directors, who then take the temperature of rooms of students who complain. If it is lower than 68 degrees, they call environmental control and operators come and check the temperature, Judy Griffin, area coordinator for North Campus, said.

There were complaints in McKinney Hall that were under 68 degrees and the problem was addressed “quickly,” Griffin said.

Some students in the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority complained about being cold in their rooms because of a closed vent, Neal Perry, associate resident director, said. Perry called environmental control who fixed the problem for them, Perry said.

“We have very little control over that,” he said.

Matt Boyer, resident director of Thomas Hall, received two complaints but nothing noticeably problematic.

“It’s not a huge issue that we see,” he said.

Leigh Woodard, resident director for Ford, said that there were more complaints about lack of heat last year, and he hasn’t received any this year.

Complaints usually happen when it gets cold or at night, but to turn up the heat would lead to future complaints about rooms being too hot, Woodard said.

She feels it’s more of a personal issue that varies than anything else.

“I think it’s kind of low, but that’s just my opinion,” she said. “It’s not up to me.”

Some students think it’s fine, others think it’s cold or hot, Woodard said.