Mar 08, 2014 05:59 PM EST By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

The University of Maine System may shed 95 jobs, in addition to its plan to eliminate 165 positions in the next budget year, The Portland Press Herald reported.

Chancellor James Page told state lawmakers Friday that 165 full-time positions will be cut across the system's seven campuses because of a $36 million budget shortfall in fiscal year 2015, despite already having cut 521 positions since 2007. He added that an additional $9.3 million could be cut, resulting in the loss of up to 95 more jobs, the Associated Press reported.

"Cuts are painful. They're never fun. It's traumatic to the individuals and to the organization. Separate from that, people know we have to change, we have to adapt," Page said, according to the AP.

Page added that the university is transitioning to an era of leaner dollars which includes no tuition increases for two years, and probably for a third year.  Although the university cuts are "traumatic," he said it will help to close a $90 million shortfall in the two-year state budget.

Trustees at the University of Maine System would like keep tuition stable for a third year because they are concerned that increases could put higher education out of reaches for many people and students that live in Maine.

However, Page is worried that the additional cuts could prove disruptive "as the system transforms into a leaner organization," the AP reported.

"We are in a difficult transitional phase, and adding the contemplated reductions will force us to make major additional cuts that will inevitably threaten programs, services, and indeed our entire transformational process," he told the committee.

The University of Maine's seven campuses are expected to submit budgets next month specifying where cuts will be made, The Portland Press Herald reported. 

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