LA GRANDE Ore.
The interim president of Eastern Oregon University said this week that the university must reduce its expenses by $2.4 million this school year and staff cuts are unavoidable.
Declining enrollment is the biggest reason for the fiscal problems. Enrollment was down 5.7 percent in 2006-07 and is projected to be down at least another 5.8 percent in 2007-08.
Dixie Lund, who came out of retirement in July to take the job after Khosrow Fatemi resigned, said 70 percent to 85 percent of the university’s budget is committed to salaries and benefits, so it will be impossible to reduce expenses without touching jobs.
“It is inconceivable that we can respond to our financial condition without eliminating positions,” Lund said at her State of the University Address this week.
Even after cutting $2.4 million in expenses, Eastern Oregon will have to draw $200,000 from its reserve fund to break even for 2007-08, Lund said.
That would reduce the fund to $400,000, which is less than 2 percent of the university’s annual revenue. Oregon’s State Board of Higher Education expects all universities to have a reserve fund between 5 percent to 15 percent of their annual revenue.
