CORVALLIS - Oregon State University President Ed Ray has approved a series of recommendations to deal with budget cuts this biennium, including the elimination of as many as 225 to 300 full-time jobs statewide, according to a news release issued Wednesday afternoon.

Low-enrollment courses also would be slashed, the administration restructured and department and degree programs consolidated. The university also announced a proposal to focus its resources around four core areas.

"This process is not just about cuts," Ray wrote in a message to campus. "It is about building and refocusing. We also recognize that to meet our aspirations, we need to substantially increase revenues from non-state sources."

The recommendations to deal with the budget crisis could save OSU $14.2 million.

University officials have been preparing for a gap of $15 million to $20 million in OSU's education and general budget - even after tuition is raised this fall, said Sabah Randhawa, provost and executive vice president.

Final budget figures won't be available until this fall, but the Oregon University System currently is looking at a 10 percent cut.

OSU's statewide public service programs - the Extension Service, the Agricultural Experiment Station and Forest Research Laboratory - face a reduction of 15 percent, or $18 million, this biennium.

About 75 to 100 positions would be cut from the statewide programs, while 150 to 200 full-time positions would be cut from OSU's education and general budget. When possible, retirements, vacancies and natural attrition would be used to lessen layoffs.

"It's a bit hard to say what the exact number of layoffs would be," Randhawa said. He expected to have a better idea on that in about a month.

At the Corvallis campus, the university will eliminate an estimated 500 course sections, and more than 30 academic programs are scheduled to be restructured, eliminated or consolidated. Colleges will have no more than five departments.

Randhawa said the university would try to phase programs out, probably as students graduate, so majors wouldn't immediately disappear.

OSU has set minimum numbers of graduates for majors in a program - for undergraduate programs, the level is 20 - and is trying to eliminate lower-division courses with fewer than 25 students, upper-division courses with fewer than 15 students and graduate courses with fewer than six students.

While course sections will be cut, OSU also has invested an extra $800,000 to provide core classes of the curriculum, Randhawa said.

Ray's proposal to create four focus areas at the college has not yet been approved. The four themes would be: healthy planet, including the colleges of Agricultural Sciences, Forestry and Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences; healthy people, including the colleges of Health and Human Sciences, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine; healthy economy, including the colleges of Engineering and Business; and basic inquiry, including the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Science.

The proposal also would relocate the college of education to the OSU-Cascades campus in Bend, while maintaining a core of education faculty on the main campus.

More details are available at oregonstate.edu/leadership/budget.