St. Cloud State University is publicly addressing questions from faculty and staff about its plan to offset the projected $13.7 million budget shortfall for fiscal year 12, which begins in July of next year.

On Wednesday, SCSU Provost Devinder Malhotra and Vice President for Administrative Affairs Steve Ludwig addressed about 200 faculty and staff members about how the university plans to balance the considerable budget deficit. The objective of the meeting was to answer direct questions from faculty and staff.

The provost says $7.5 million will be saved by cutting faculty and administrative staff. In addition, $1.2 million will be saved through academic reorganization, which means consolidating, restructuring, and even cutting certain academic programs offered at St. Cloud State.

Malhotra and Ludwig say the university will free up $1 million by cutting non-instructional hours for faculty members who are not contractually-bound. In other words, faculty members who have on-campus duties in addition to teaching may lose the extra time they receive for non-instructional responsibilities such as research and advising student groups and graduate programs.

The final $4 million-plus needed to be cut, according to Malhotra and Ludwig, will be alleviated by reducing staff, or employees of SCSU who are not faculty. These budget numbers are subject to change, depending on the November election, the state’s budget forecast, and MnSCU’s budget proposal to the legislature.

On Tuesday September 28th, St. Cloud State President Earl Potter will release his final decision about which academic programs will be cut, consolidated or reorganized in this latest round of modifications.