Community colleges put Oregonians into the workforce, says LBCC President Lisa Avery. However, a $3.5 million budget deficit has resulted in some tough decisions for the college as it pursues that mission entering the 2025-27 biennium.
On March 31, Avery announced that LBCC will be enacting budget cuts that include eliminating five currently filled positions and six vacant positions to address the deficit.
The plan also involves “transitioning community education to a cost-recovery program and switching some technologies to less expensive or free alternatives.” Avery wrote the reduction will save $2.1 million, adding that the remaining $1.4 million deficit would be addressed “later this spring.”
LBCC stated in a news release that it will handle the remaining reductions “through operational efficiencies, prioritized spending on core instructional needs, and additional cost-saving measures that will be implemented throughout the coming year.”
Most staffing changes will go into effect by June 30, 2025, the school announced. Earlier in March, the LBCC Board of Education approved a 4% increase in tuition and fees.
“The college has consistently dipped into its reserves just to stay afloat, and I don’t take that lightly,” said Student Leadership Council President Travis Overvig. “These are not easy times, and while I recognize the difficult decisions administrators are being forced to make, those choices can have real, lasting consequences for students.”
Avery said the tuition increase was to help offset the budget cuts, adding that LBCC’s cost is still less than half of Oregon State University’s. “Even though the amount is higher, it’s still overall, proportionately, much less,” she said.
The school’s budget deficit, currently estimated at $3.5 million, didn’t come as a surprise. “It’s a combination of rising costs and the state’s budget challenges. Our allocation is funded by the legislature, and they have a lot of competing demands right now,” said Avery.
LBCC budget forums in the fall included Vice President for Finance and Operations Sheldon Flom and Director of Accounting and Budget Jess Jacobs informing staff of a projected $3.3 million deficit, which increased to $3.5 million in January.
The increase was due to less state funding than expected. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek’s recommended budget for the 2025-27 biennium included $870 million for the Oregon Community College Support Fund. However, updated numbers showed that $854 million would be distributed among the state’s community colleges.
The initial $870 million amount was a 9% increase from the previous biennium, but the Oregon Community College Association said at the time that it was “still about $50 million short of what colleges say they need to maintain current services.” Instead, that number could drop even lower.
“Increased funding for the next biennium 2025-27 is at the forefront of our advocacy efforts,” wrote LBCC Government Relations Manager Linnea Everts in the March LBCC Foundation newsletter.
The state budget will be forecasted in May.
Among the rising costs that LBCC has to afford are mandatory payments into the Public Employee Retirement System, or PERS. For the upcoming biennium, LBCC is estimated to pay a weighted average increase of 20.3% into the system from the last two-year period.
“Obviously, a really big number,” Jacobs said during a November budget forum, adding it would be a little under $1 million in additional expenses “with really no change at all in our benefits.”
Avery noted that enrollment numbers are still less than ideal.
“I would say that Covid is not directly a factor in the budget, but we are still digging out of some of the enrollment challenges that Covid brought to us,” she said, adding that government relief from the pandemic has already been spent. “I’d say that the worst of the crisis is behind us, but we are still trying to redeem our enrollment and the revenue that goes with it.”
In the 2022-23 school year, Linn-Benton made substantial cuts, including eliminating the computer science and criminal justice programs, as well as the library faculty positions on the Albany campus, to address the budget shortfall. The cuts were met with outrage from students and staff; this year, the response has been quieter.
Avery said the school has not received many comments regarding the cuts. She says it’s because the deficit hasn’t caused the elimination of an academic program this biennium – also, the school pursued a more transparent approach addressing the 2025-27 budget shortfall.
“It’s a little bit of a different approach this time through,” said Avery. “We’ve had more participation with a bigger task force earlier on to try to get a lot of voices around the table – to take ideas and figure out the best route forward.
“I know, though, that it had an impact on those who were reduced, definitely, but it’s not as broad as the reduction last time.”
In an email to staff announcing the cuts, Avery wrote that the college-wide budget task force, started in fall 2024, included representatives from each employee association on campus.
The SLC also had a seat at the table.
“I appreciate the efforts of LBCC administrators to hear from students in budget forums so that our voices and concerns are heard,” said Overvig. “That being said, if we’re serious about student success, we need to protect the resources that make success possible. Budget cuts and tuition hikes might balance the books, but they risk costing students their futures and that cost must be considered at all levels.”
While academic programs were spared from this year’s cuts, there will still be noticeable changes. Eleven staff positions – five currently filled – were eliminated.
Avery stated in an email to staff that LBCC’s human resources has contacted every employee impacted by the cuts, including discussion of potential “reassignment opportunities” for those eligible. One faculty member whose position was cut has accepted a full-time role elsewhere in the school.
Other cuts involve saving when it comes to technology licenses, with Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs Ann Buchele noting that the school will be switching from Panopto back to Kaltura for instructional videos.
“We are trying to share more of our site licenses and our products so that we’re spending less money to vendors and more money directly here on campus,” said Avery.
Other cuts that Buchele confirmed include LBCC’s mental health crisis hotline, as well as the First Year Experience course previously required for new students.
Buchele said that the usage of the hotline has been “very low” since the school added two mental health counselors to its staff.
Dean of Academic Foundations Leslie Hammond said students needing a mental crisis hotline can still call the national number: 988. It’s “an excellent service,” Hammond told The Commuter, “and we’re confident that they will take good care of our students in need. While we are sad to lose our dedicated crisis line, we understand the need to reduce costs in all available ways. Because there is a good alternative in 988, we feel comfortable with this change.”
As for the elimination of FYS classes, Buchele said the courses had a failure rate between 20% and 40% depending on the term, mainly because enrolled students didn’t show up or do the work.
“This showed us we should look at other ways to provide students this important information instead of a credit course,” said Buchele.
After another biennium of cuts, Avery put the onus on the Oregon Legislature to better support the state’s community colleges.
“(Covid) takes us back to what have been some tough times for the college in recent years. … Our enrollments are climbing again, which is great news, because we want to get Oregonians back to school and back to work. But our costs are up as well, and so we do need additional support from our legislature to try to help with that – to make sure that students are able to have all the services and the classes that they need.
“It’s incumbent upon our legislature to try to find a way to help bridge those funding gaps if we want to think about the workforce of tomorrow,” she said. “So to me, it is of utmost importance.”
This article originally appeared in the April 2025 edition of The Commuter.
