Due to statewide budget cuts, university officials announced on Friday the elimination of 25 personnel positions and the consolidations of the five colleges into three.

In August, President Nick Bruno informed university personnel on the impending administration’s re-organization and possible layoffs.

The actions, according to Bruno, would be taken as a way to reduce the university’s budget by $1.5 million.

“This is not going to be easy, but it has to be done,” Bruno said during his State of University Address in August.

Of the 25 personnel positions being cut, 19 are active employees while six are through retirements and already vacant positions.

“This is not a fix,” Bruno said. “It is only an adjustment. Every year we go in to a new fiscal year optimistic that this is the year that higher education in Louisiana will be stabilized and given more resources by the state. When that occurs, we are committed to reinvest in key areas.”

Approximately 300 university positions have been eliminated since 2009.

Senior Dylan Crowell said he understands cuts are bound to happen.

“While I may not agree or disagree, it is necessary,” Crowell said.

But senior history major Allison Prudhomme questions the severity of the number of people being cut.

Along with faculty and staff eliminations, officials announced the consolidation of ULM’s five academic colleges into three.

While the graduate school will remain the same, beginning in January the three academic colleges will be: the College of Arts, Education and Sciences, the College of Health and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the College of Business and Social Sciences.

Three academic degree programs will be cut: Ph.D. in Pharmacy Administration, B.A. in Sociology and B.S. in Medical Laboratory Sciences.

Junior pre-nursing major Jernesia Huggins doesn’t agree with any of the changes.

“Is this not an arts and science school? People come here for those programs and cutting them would make people not want to come here any more,” Huggins said.

Juniors and seniors already enrolled in the programs are allowed complete their degree, while freshmen and sophomores must change their majors.

Concentrations in photography and sculpture will also be discontinued, as well as geology courses.

Personnel cuts this school year initially began in October, when five faculty and staff positions, including director of admissions and director of purchasing, were eliminated.

The 30 cuts are expected to reduce approximately $2 million from the university’s budget.

According to Bruno, such measures must be taken due to the reduction of state funding.

ULM receives 11 percent less funding than the UL system average according to Bruno’s State of the University Address.

In 2008, the university had an operating budget of $88.1 million with over 50 percent of the budget coming from state revenue.

As of July 2013, the operating budget is $71.1 million with over 50 percent of the budget coming from ULM, according to the address.

ULM is one of nine universities in the UL System, the largest higher education system in Louisiana.

Sixty-one percent of the UL System operating budget is self generated from the nine universities, while only 39 percent comes from state funds, according to ULsystem.net.

“It’s just crazy. It seems like higher education is the last thing on the Louisiana government’s mind,” said senior kinesiology major Shanetra Harris. “It’s like, how much more money is the state going to cut, how many more people are going to have to lose their jobs and how much more money will we [the students] have to pay?”