Finances, fees and furloughs dominated conversations across the University this year as budget cuts became steeper and state money became tighter.

At last week’s media briefing, University President Michael Adams told the University community that employees could be notified as early as January about possible layoffs.

“With any additional significant cuts, we would have to downsize the payroll beyond the some 500 positions that we’ve already done,” Adams said at the briefing. “There’s not many other places now left to go.”

But Adams’s announcement comes after a long year of budgetary woes.

“While we’ve had financial challenges before, this one is deeper and tougher than probably anything we’ve faced in the last 20 to 25 years,” University President Michael Adams told the Red & Black earlier this year.

In January, Adams warned of future changes to the University’s budget and financial situation, and last spring students began to feel the crunch.

In response to budget cuts from the state, the Board of Regents approved a 25 percent tuition increase, eliminated the “fixed for four plan”- – which guaranteed students’ tuitions for their entire college careers – and maintained the $100 special institutional fee for fall semester.

But more budgetary slashing was still to come, and for University employees, furloughs were on the horizon.

In response to the Regents’ cuts, the University mandated six furlough days – or days off, taken without pay – for all University employees.

The furloughs saved the University about $7.2 million in salary expenditures.

Though faculty members were effectively receiving a 3 percent pay cut, many said they recognized the need for furloughs.

“While it’s a very hard decision, it’s probably the best that can be made given the circumstances and the hard times,” said Scott Angle, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, after the University community learned of the furloughs.

Students also felt the effects of the budget crunch as class sizes increased and the University relied more and more on part-time instructors to cover faculty losses.

Students were hit more directly when the Board of Regents decided last month to up the special institutional fee to $200.

“[The fee] hurts me. It’s already hard enough for my family and me to pay,” Stephanie Tiv, a senior from Winder told the Red & Black. “I wasn’t very happy about even the $100 [fee], so to raise it again, that really hurts.”

Also at last month’s meeting, the Regents increased budget reductions to the 8 percent level – totaling budget losses to $176 million for fiscal year 2010.

“There’s no doubt it’s critically tight,” Tom Jackson, vice president for public affairs at the University, said after the Regents announced the cuts.