Dive Brief:
- The University of Southern Maine is cutting three programs, and it will propose to cut staff and more programs as it looks to close a budget gap.
- The deficit for Southern Maine’s 2014-15 budget currently stands at $16 million, due to enrollment declines that were unforeseen, the Portland Press Herald reported.
- Enrollment is down 5.3% from last year, at 8,124 students, following a five-year drop of 14%.
Dive Insight:
In the last budget, 157 positions were slashed for the entire University of Maine System. For the current fiscal year, which started on July 1, the University of Southern Maine’s $134 million budget needed $7 million in emergency funding to help close a $14 million gap. The system’s trustees will seek a 3.4% increase in state funding for the school to help close the current budget gap. The programs and their seven faculty members will be phased out as current students graduate: 57 in an American and New England studies graduate program, 47 in geosciences, and 61 in an arts and humanities program.