University of Maine eyes $6M in budget cuts, including layoffs

Dive Brief:

University of Maine’s senior leadership outlined a plan that would slash the public institution’s expected fiscal 2028 nonacademic budget deficit from $9 million down to $3 million.
The plan relies on expense cuts including an unspecified number of layoffs, along with some combination of shorter employee appointments and vacancy eliminations in several units — athletics, student life, strategic partnerships and the president’s office.
Leaders are also looking at consolidating UMaine’s research centers. At the same time, they hope to boost revenue by $1 million, including through a partnership with a facilities management firm to increase conferences and events at the university.

Dive Insight:

In addition to the workforce reductions, UMaine officials plan to centralize some operations and sunset others, decrease reliance on external vendors and seek outside funds to finance some job roles.

When and if all those efforts are realized, the challenge of closing UMaine’s remaining $3 million budget gap “will be the Cabinet’s main focus over the coming weeks,” the senior leaders said.

All that applies to only a portion of UMaine’s budget. In September, UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy and Provost Gabriel Paquette said the institution faced a projected $19 million deficit for the next fiscal year. Of that, the university’s academic affairs unit committed to eliminating $10 million from base expenses.

By the numbers

$19 million

UMaine’s total expected budget shortfall for fiscal 2028 if it were to take no action on reducing expenses. That could balloon to over $40 million by 2030 if left unaddressed.

10,726

Fall 2026 enrollment estimate, as of early October. That could decrease by 2% next year, according to the university’s projections.

$3 million

Remaining deficit projection after expected cost cuts and revenue increases across the university.

The academic side planned to do so by cutting 20% of vacant positions within academic affairs in addition to reducing instruction budgets and consolidating course sections. In the longer term, UMaine might also increase course seat limits and close out some “underenrolled” programs, the leaders said.

But, even with all those measures, Ferrini-Mundy and Paquette warned that staff and faculty layoffs would ultimately be necessary to completely eliminate the university’s deficit while options to limit layoffs would be “pursued aggressively.”

At the time, the leaders cited “demographic and other enrollment pressures” that have weighed on revenue as expenses have grown.

Without budget cuts, UMaine leaders project its total deficit would grow from $19 million fiscal 2028 to $34.6 million in 2029 and $41.1 million by 2030, according to an October presentation.

Looking forward to fall 2027, administrators anticipate an enrollment decline of up to 2%, to 10,511 students, according to the presentation. But if UMaine can increase enrollment and retention, particularly among first-years and graduate students paying full tuition, it could staunch that decline to 1%.