Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech President Charles Steger noted last month that the federal stimulus package would be an unknown budget factor. Now, Tech expects to receive $34 million over the next two years.

BLACKSBURG -- Virginia Tech officials have a clearer picture of the university's 2009-10 budget and say they hope a meeting Saturday will help them finalize a plan to deal with a reduction of nearly $30 million in state support.

Provost Mark McNamee told Tech's faculty senate Tuesday night that most of the plans submitted by deans in December to cut their budgets by 5 percent will be accepted with "some adjustments around the margins." McNamee said the strategies rely on cutting unfilled positions to lessen the impact on people. But he cautioned that the cuts are not likely to spare everyone.

"You can't take $30 million out of the budget in a year and not have some impact on programs," he said.

State support for the university's education and general fund will be cut 15 percent -- $26.2 million -- next fiscal year. Additional cuts to the Virginia Cooperative Extension and Agricultural Experiment Station will bring the total reduction to $29.9 million. When state general fund reductions announced in the fall of 2007 and 2008 are added, the cumulative effect is a decrease of $42.5 million.

In February, when McNamee last spoke publicly about the budget, he said the university would not offer early retirement incentives to faculty with the possible exception of those in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. He reiterated that message Tuesday.

Sue Ott Rowlands, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, said Wednesday that the college's proposed budget only included "a couple" of program eliminations. Faculty involved in those programs have been notified, but Ott Rowlands said the plans will not become general knowledge until they are accepted. She said rumors about "major restructuring" caused some undue uproar in the college last month. But she did not downplay the effects of the cuts Wednesday.

"I feel like our budget reductions will have a major impact on what we do," she said. "I don't want to pretend like these won't hurt. They'll hurt a lot."

In February, Tech President Charles Steger and Vice President for Finance Dwight Shelton cited the federal stimulus package as an unknown variable in the process. On Tuesday, Shelton had a better idea of the monetary impact -- Tech expects to receive about $17 million a year over the next two fiscal years. But he was still uncertain about exactly how the university would use the stimulus money.

"This is kind of like being in the ninth inning of a baseball game," he said, explaining that details about the federal funding and the state budget still need to be addressed. The General Assembly reconvenes for its veto session April 8.

McNamee said he is hopeful that the federal stimulus can offset decreases in class seats and course offerings. But the top priority of the federal government is to mitigate tuition increases for in-state students. The General Assembly has discussed holding tuition increases down to 3 percent to 5 percent, but Shelton said the university has not received any requests from the state regarding tuition.

The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors sets tuition and fee rates, typically at its March meeting. But the budget uncertainty will push that vote back to April. Tuition and fees for in-state students at Tech went up 10.8 percent last year.

Because the stimulus funds are not recurring, the university could "hit the cliff" in fiscal year 2012 if the economy hasn't recovered and costs such as insurance and energy continue to rise, Shelton said.

McNamee said the administration is looking for ways to use the stimulus money to have the best long-term impact. That could mean taking advantage of the poor economy to hire faculty or fund capital projects that result in long-term savings.

"We're trying to think creatively, and all suggestions are welcome," he said.

McNamee urged faculty to get those ideas to him soon. On Saturday, university leaders will hold a "special, extensive budget session" with the goal of finalizing a plan to submit to Steger, he said.

After McNamee left, the faculty senate passed a resolution asking that some of the stimulus money be used to offset anticipated cuts to the university's library system. Dean of Libraries Eileen Hitchingham sent a letter to the university community Monday that said the library is planning to cut $900,000 worth of subscriptions next year to offset budget cuts and inflation.

Several faculty spoke out about the library's importance and complained that it's already underfunded and has canceled subscriptions in years past.

Engineering education professor Marie Paretti said if the university cuts the library, it's undermining itself.

"We destroy our teaching mission, we destroy our research mission, we destroy everything," she said.