Finance and Administrative Services Vice Chancellor Eric Monday said the University needs to change and become more efficient when he spoke to the Staff Senate Wednesday about the 2011 budget framework for the University.Monday said the University has cut approximately $43 million from the budget during the last 14 months, and he said more budget cuts during the next two years are possible.Monday said because 80 percent of the University’s budget is spent on people, cutting operating costs quickly leads to cutting people’s jobs.”The most valuable thing LSU has is people,” Monday said.Monday also spoke about how the University could continue to improve while dealing with budget cuts.Monday said the University needs to increase enrollment of graduate students to 22 percent of total enrollment from the 17 percent currently enrolled. He also said the University would need to offer an online degree by next fall.”It’s exciting to hear that Staff Senate executive committee’s suggestions were being considered by the Office of Finance and Administrative Services,” said Chad Gothreaux, Staff Senate president. “We need to attack the problem of budget cuts on the revenue, student and entrepreneurial side.”Monday referred to Gov. Bobby Jindal’s Tuesday press conference, which announced the LA GRAD program, Granting Resources and Autonomy for Diplomas, as an “amazing step” for the University and higher education.The LA GRAD program would allow Louisiana universities to increase tuition by 10 percent per year until they reach the average prices of their regional peer universities, assuming certain qualifications are met and the state legislature approves the plan.The steps taken by Jindal on Tuesday would allow for the University to operate with greater autonomy, especially with regard to travel for faculty and staff, Monday said.Gothreaux also spoke about the University providing layoff support for staff members who could lose jobs due to budget cuts.”Career Services already provides some transitional support for those who lose their jobs, but we want to see if we can have the University conduct a job fair for laid off employees,” Gothreaux said.Gothreaux said the Staff Senate was going to discuss making retention investments, which would help staff members who do not lose their jobs do “more with less.”—-Contact Jacob Most at [email protected]