UMaine says layoffs expected amid projected $19M shortfall

Facing a projected $19 million budget shortfall, the University of Maine in Orono announced plans to lay off faculty and staff as well as to eliminate one-fifth of vacant positions to rein in spending and restore its financial footing. In a letter to faculty and staff posted online Thursday, UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy and Provost Gabriel Paquette blamed the looming deficit on a combination of factors, including rising operating costs, enrollment pressures and decades of deferred maintenance. "After considering a multitude of approaches and solutions, we have concluded that strategic staff layoffs and faculty retrenchments will be necessary to reduce the university's expenses on an ongoing basis," they said. The Orono school is the flagship of the University of Maine System, which encompasses seven universities across the state and Maine’s only law school. With full-time undergraduate enrollment of 7,308 as of fall 2025, UMaine is ranked No. 2 among the state's largest colleges and universities in the 2026 Mainebiz Book of Lists. Ferrini-Mundy was honored as a Mainebiz Business Leader of the Year in 2024. Number of layoffs to be determined The planned cutbacks apply only to the flagship university, which has a regional campus in Machias. Together, the schools employ more than 2,400 people, not counting student workers. UMaine leaders did not elaborate on how many jobs will be eliminated, or on the timing. Any workforce reductions would follow collective bargaining agreements with the relevant unions, according to Samantha Warren, a spokeswoman for the University of Maine System. "We expect to share that in the coming months, when final decisions have been made, with notifications given consistent with the individual's respective collective bargaining agreement," she said. The belt-tightening comes as the university begins budgeting for the next fiscal year, with proposed cost reductions in the Academic Affairs department, which accounts for about half of the university’s budget. Besides the layoffs and hiring pullback, the measures call for reducing overload teaching and other instructional spending, consolidating class sections and cutting some additional compensation, for total annual savings of about $2.1 million. Enrollment, retention On the revenue side, UMaine aims to boost enrollment and undergraduate retention by 1%. Meeting those targets, which they called “modest and realistic,” would generate an estimated $2.2 million annually. The remaining $5.7 million gap could be partly closed through deeper cuts, including eliminating 40% of vacant positions instead of the planned 20%, which would save another $1.5 million, according to Thursday's letter. “If key assumptions are not ultimately adjusted, and if new options do not materialize,” the letter warns, the remaining $5.7 million deficit “will inevitably require faculty retrenchments and staff layoffs,” beyond normal attrition. 'World-class public university' Warren said that cost-saving plans for other units at the University of Maine in Orono will be announced in coming weeks. “The system is fully supportive of UMaine leaders and their efforts to ensure this world-class public university has the sustainable financial foundation needed to continue providing the high-quality, affordable education and innovative research necessary to the prosperity of Maine and its people,” she said.