As the economic effects of COVID-19 continue to cause financial trouble across the country, Metro State University of Denver has announced how they will address their budgetary shortfall: faculty and staff furloughs. 

According to The Denver Post, effective immediately all staff and faculty who earn more than $50,000 annually will have to take unpaid furlough days over the course of the next fiscal year, ending in June 2021. With the furlough also came the elimination of 10 positions. 

Larry Sampler, MSU Denver’s vice president of administration, said fall enrollment for the university is forecasted to decline by 10%, adding to a total budget shortfall of $14 million during the fiscal year. According to Sampler, the furloughs would provide $1.1 million in savings. 

The system that MSU Denver will work differently dependent on salary. The message to employees included  a tiered table to determine how many unpaid days each employee must take. 

According to The Post, faculty and staff making between $50,000 to $89,999 will have to take a full five unpaid days off, which works out to a 1.9% salary reduction. The more an employee earns, the more days they will be asked to take. This maxes out at 13 days off and a 5% reduction in salary. 

University spokesman Tim Carroll told The Post that MSU Denver employees were allowed to voluntarily furlough themselves beginning in June, and those that chose to take this unpaid time off will not have to take more days off, so long as they took fewer than the plan’s requirement. 

Bill Henry, interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, wrote in the message to faculty and staff that the key to the system will be to implement the furloughing process without sacrificing student contact hours, course content or learning objectives. 

“In a time of dramatic disruptions, we need to make sure we continue to prioritize teaching and student support,” Henry wrote. “That may mean we need to lower expectations for scholarship, professional development and service for the year to compensate for the reduction in work time.”