LA GRANDE — A revenue shortfall may force Eastern Oregon University to make significant budget reductions.
Eastern Oregon University’s Finance and Administration Committee voted on Tuesday, April 30, to recommend the university trim its 2024-25 budget by $4.8 million due to a revenue shortfall.
The reduction would trim EOU’s 2024-25 budget by 8.41%. The school's board of trustees will vote on the committee's recommendation when it meets May 15-16 in La Grande.
EOU President Kelly Ryan said developing the budget cutting plan the board of trustees will consider was a challenging and painful experience.
“It has been very, very difficult," she said.
Ryan said she feels for the people she is working with during the budget cutting process.
“It is another shot to morale. It is troubling, it hurts," she said, adding that higher education is under attack in many circles and public support for it at the legislative level in states, including Oregon, is fading.
The budget reduction plan the Finance and Administration Committee voted for calls for Eastern to not fill 23 vacant positions that are open because of retirements and resignations. Ten of these are faculty positions, three are administrative professional positions and 10 are classified positions.
The plan also calls for the layoff of five employees — two full time and three part time — now employed by Eastern. The positions earmarked for layoffs include three administrative professionals and two classified staff employees.
Cuts would also be made by making a $545,000 reduction in services and supplies, trimming the university's travel budget by $86,000 and cutting $395,000 from the budget for computer software.
The reductions will not result in major cuts to services offered to students, Ryan said. There will be some minor reductions, however, for example some internships for students would be cut and several on-campus jobs for students may be cut.
She said that Eastern will be able to maintain all of its academic programs by reassigning responsibilities among faculty and staff and boosting its efficiency.
Ryan credits the school's deans with doing an excellent job of determining how Eastern’s faculty are reassigned in order to keep its academic programs strong.
Enrollment problems
The reductions are necessary in part because of falling revenue due to Eastern’s often fragile enrollment picture. Eastern’s enrollment was up 1.1% last fall but that was only the second time it has been up since 2015. It declined all of the other years in between.
Enrollment has a dramatic impact on EOU’s budget. LeeAnn Case, Eastern's interim vice president of finance and administration, noted that a 1% drop in enrollment costs the university $300,000, enough to cover the pay and benefits of three employees.