President Bill Perry said he will announce what areas of the university will experience budget cuts through a mass email by the end of next week.

He said times have been rough in the last four to five years. Perry said the budget cuts are a result of a decrease in university revenue.

“Our budget is driven a lot by tuition,” Perry said. “We have had enrollment decreases, state funding has not increased and inflation is about 37 percent.”

He also said budget cut effects will be minimized in certain areas.

“We want to minimize impact on teaching programs to keep it strong and in high quality,” Perry said.

He also said the university will try to minimize budget cuts in academic affairs related areas, particularly pertaining to instruction.

“We are trying to do everything we can to get our budget reductions with attrition,” Perry said. “We are working hard to use attrition to minimize the impact on people’s jobs.”

He said about 150 people retired last spring.

“Since June 11, I approved seven hires,” Perry said.

He said some of these positions were eliminated by attrition or gradually not filling positions as they become vacant.

Perry said investments have also been made in areas that will help increase enrollment.

“It is not just cuts, it is also investments,” he said.

Perry said attribution is being greatly used to make up for losses.

“If someone leaves the university, there will be no exception to hiring freeze, unless it is absolutely critical,” Perry said.

He said the university has cut budgets on certain areas such as travel, equipment, and general operational expenditure.

The Council on University Planning and Budgeting created three groups in the spring, including academic affairs and student affairs.

The other group pertains to business affairs, the president and university advancement. These groups were created to evaluate university areas and develop an analysis to determine budget cuts.

The council also approved individual recommendations made by the three sub groups with the exception of academic affairs whose suggestions were accepted but not enforced last spring.

Debby Hernandez can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].