At a Board of Trustees meeting Monday, leaders from Southern Oregon University presented a cash flow forecast.
It shows that by the end of May, the university is projected to drop below its approved cash threshold of $12.68 million.
SOU projects it will not have enough cash to cover payroll by the end of February 2027 and expects a shortfall of more than $14 million by June 2027.
Trustee Matt Stephenson said the university needs to find an answer now.
"There’s only two ways to make that number change. It’s either we bring in more, or we start cutting deeper," he said. "Nobody wants to do that, but we’re looking down the barrel of a gun that is three months away."
Board members raised concerns about how the university reached this point and why they only learned about this situation Monday.
"There's a capacity issue, and it's not a competency issue at all," said Carson Howell, vice president of finance and administration.
University leaders said the budget and finance offices are understaffed, financial reporting is insufficient, and financial policies need strengthening.
"As I look back on four years as the president here at SOU, I admit that our awareness has suffered," President Rick Bailey said.
The university plans to hire two budget and finance staff members to improve oversight and quality control in its fiscal management, according to the board report.
Trustees discussed potentially securing a line of credit or requesting a loan from the SOU Foundation, but made no decision. Members voted unanimously to spend $900,000 over two years for a new marketing campaign in an effort to increase enrollment and generate revenue.
The university has also implemented a hiring freeze, travel restrictions and reductions in funding for services, supplies and professional development.
"This challenging fiscal wave will affect all public universities in Oregon; SOU is simply the first to go through this," the board said in its report.
The report also said the university is open to evaluating whether to end summer classes, a move that could require closer academic collaboration with other public universities.
SOU has experienced a series of financial crises caused by factors such as rising costs, declining enrollment and what Bailey calls inadequate state support.
In 2023, the university cut almost 82 full-time-equivalent positions. In September 2025, trustees approved a plan to cut more than $10 million over four years. Between the two plans, Bailey said SOU has cut one-quarter of its faculty and staff.
Still, university leaders said more changes are now needed.
"It seems like every board meeting, every time we get together, there’s something worse and more urgent that we're kind of dealing with," Bailey said.
Bailey is asking the state legislature for funding. But if that doesn’t work, SOU will need a new strategy, quickly. The Board expects a plan on how to address short-term cash flow needs by the end of this week.
"I am not saying that the legislature is going to fix this," Bailey said at a press conference Tuesday. "I'm always going to be hopeful because I know and believe that the institution is worth it to put the energy in."
Bailey said the university is already exploring funding sources that have pushed that cash flow challenge from the spring to the summer. He declined to give further details.
JPR is licensed to Southern Oregon University, but our newsroom operates independently. Guided by our journalistic standards and ethics, we cover the university like any other organization in the region. No university official reviewed or edited this story before it was published.
