Under recently formulated plans to cut the last $6 million from UF's budget this year, the university could leave as many as 60 faculty positions unfilled.
That number would be added to the 200 or so positions that are already in the process of being eliminated or laid off.
The plan calls for the provost and deans of UF's colleges and academic units to decide which faculty positions will be left unfilled when professors leave or retire over the next two years.
Annual turnover and reallocation at UF produces an average of $10 million to $15 million in salaries and benefits each year, and officials would have to identify about $6 million to cut from that pool by the end of June.
A lower-ranking professor at UF typically makes about $100,000 in salary and benefits each year, which means about 60 positions could be affected.
However, the number could be lower because the deans will be able to decide if they want to continue funding the positions by instead cutting back on other things, said UF Provost Joe Glover.
Each college and unit will likely get a proportional share of the cut, Glover said, though he has discretion to decide if some colleges will have to cut more than others.
Put into perspective, the cut amounts to about 1 percent of the state-funded portion of each of the colleges' budgets.
But unlike in January, when they were told to prepare budget proposals that were eventually posted online, Glover said the colleges won't have to do that this time.
"That was a very stressful exercise," he said.
The newly announced cuts are the last piece of UF's budget cut puzzle.
Originally, when UF announced in May that it had to cut $42 million, there were about $16.6 million in cuts that were still undecided.
Officials said they hoped the rest could be cut through university-wide administrative initiatives, like cutting summer pay for faculty and offering an early retirement plan, both of which are being implemented.
Changes to UF's sick leave plan were also considered but ultimately dropped after faculty protest.
The only other option, Glover said, was to cut more from the colleges.
"At some point we ran out of ideas or ways to do cuts centrally, and so we had to go back to the colleges," he said.
The additional cuts are on top of about 58 layoffs and 150 vacant position eliminations UF announced in May. The number of layoffs has since shrunk to 43 - 9 faculty and 34 staff. It's unclear how many positions have been eliminated so far.
John Biro, head of the UF faculty union, said he thinks the latest plan to cut the budget hasn't been properly explained to the public.
"There has been no discussion, no comment about it," Biro said.
He also said UF has the money to keep the positions filled, but instead it has chosen to spend its money hiring new faculty, pointing to UF's plan to use $10 million in stimulus funds to hire up to 100 faculty.
"If I'm short of the money to pay my mortgage, I don't go out and buy a Hummer," he said.
Correction: The Alligator initially reported that the number of layoffs had shrunk to 41 -- 9 faculty and 32 staff. The correct number of layoffs is 43 -- 9 faculty and 34 staff.
