KEARNEY, Neb. — The University of Nebraska-Kearney is moving forward with a slightly reduced plan for budget cuts.

The university announced Monday that Chancellor Neal Schnoor shared his final budget reduction recommendations with the Nebraska Board of Regents. The board will vote on approving the budget plan at an upcoming meeting.

The reduction plan seeks to address a $4.5 million budget deficit that Schnoor says developed because of enrollment decline, rising expenses, and a slower rate of state funding growth.

Schnoor published a draft plan on Dec. 9 and hosted a campus listening session the same day. He then gathered input from faculty and staff over the next couple of weeks.

“Our shared governance process is essential to making thoughtful decisions in this challenging time,” Schnoor said. “I am grateful to everyone who took the time to engage, ask questions and share feedback. Their input, collaboration and innovation directly informed the final recommendations.”

The input led to the continuation of the Family Science degree, which had been on the draft list of cuts. With 27 enrolled students, the major had by far the highest participation of the programs that were on the cut list. Schnoor said the program will instead be realigned and transition to online delivery.

UNK is scaling back its reduction in force plan from five positions to three, with one family science and one history position retained. The online master’s degree in public history is expected to see increased demand through expanded online marketing, eliminating the need for a faculty reduction.

The other proposed cuts remain the same.

“We recognize the impact these decisions have on our campus community,” Schnoor said. “I am truly grateful to faculty and staff for their personal investment, time, effort and resilience throughout this process.”

The following degrees and programs continue to be proposed for elimination:

• Higher Education Student Affairs, Master of Science in Education

• Modern Languages, Bachelor of Arts – German emphasis

• Music Comprehensive, Bachelor of Music – Music Business emphasis

• Modern Languages 7-12 Teaching Endorsement, Bachelor of Arts in Education – German emphasis.

Personnel-related proposals include a Voluntary Separation Incentive Program projected to save $2.2 million. In total, 19 positions are included across voluntary separations, reductions in force and open positions not being filled.

Nine voluntary separations are proposed across art and design, communication, counseling and school psychology, cybersecurity, English, marketing and teacher education. UNK is also proposing the elimination of seven open faculty lines in family science, biology, chemistry, English, history and communication along with three additional reductions in force in family science and music.

UNK is also moving forward with $2.3 million in operational, administrative and structural reductions, including staffing, operating, remission and graduate assistant adjustments:

• Open staff lines (7) and part-time custodial line (1) – $559,993

• Student remissions/fundraise (Athletics, Kearney Health Opportunities & Kearney Law Opportunities programs) – $400,000

• Operating fund rebalance (5%) – $350,000

• Graduate assistant reductions (20) – $250,000

• Summer salary budget – $200,000

• Athletics operations – $200,000

• Chancellor: Vice Chancellor Enrollment/Marketing restructure, Office Associate (1) – $153,983

• Vacating Memorial Student Affairs Building and Thomas Hall – $85,047

• Office for Intercultural Engagement and Leadership restructure (1) – $66,630

• Museum of Nebraska Art memo of understanding support (beginning FY28) – $35,649

• College of Business and Technology - Marketing and Institutional Engagement – $18,73