Murray State president Dr. Bob Davies said the current Senate budget will approach a $12 million impact to the university.
Davies said in an email to faculty and staff Monday that amount doesn’t include changes to enrollment or tuition.
He said university leadership is making “challenging decisions” about programs and services that he says “are important to Murray State but cannot be continued in their current form."
Those decisions were not specified in the email, but the Board of Regents and Davies have discussed potentially outsourcing services like health and dining.
Davies said ongoing reductions over the past decade have left “no ‘fat’ to trim” and added that any decision in terms of what is invested in or what isn’t reduced means another area must be reduced or eliminated.
The issue of cuts to higher education funding in Kentucky is not unique to Murray State. Western Kentucky University released last week a list of positions that will be eliminated to help address a $15 million shortfall. Eastern Kentucky announced the elimination of a campus and cuts to 200 positions to address a $25 million impact.
A town hall meeting to discuss issues and provide an update on planning is on April 6 in Wrather Auditorium.