PENDLETON — Blue Mountain Community College is confronting a rough financial reality.

In March, BMCC announced the intention to cut at least $2.8 million from its 2020-21 budget as the school’s reserve fund erodes, but it turns out that was low. The impact of COVID-19 could potentially grow the gap to more than $4 million.

Last week, the college announced $1.76 million in reductions with more on the way. The full picture is still fuzzy and the ramifications of the pandemic aren’t clear.

“We don’t know the full extent yet,” said BMCC President Dennis Bailey-Fougnier. “Obviously, state revenue is down sharply and that will affect the Community College Support Fund. We won’t know until May 20 when the forecast comes out, but we’re estimating somewhere around a 17% additional cut to our part of the support fund.”

That development is exacerbated by a slump in enrollment, he said, which dropped by 27% for the spring semester. Much of that reflects the Oregon Department of Corrections’ decision to suspend GED classes inside the prisons. BMCC faculty and staff who teach at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution, Two Rivers Correctional Institution and Powder River Correctional Facility were locked out to lower the risk of the virus getting inside.

“We are the largest prison educator in the state with three different prisons,” Bailey-Fougnier said. “We understand what the prison system is doing — they want to keep everyone safe inside those walls. We totally get it, but it hurts.”

The suspension of those classes makes up much of the enrollment drop, along with cancellation of classes on campus that can’t be taught effectively online, such as welding, which requires hands-on instruction.

The BMCC Board of Education last month raised tuition $2 per credit hour to make up for some of the losses, but as board member Jane Hill observed at that meeting, the $2 bump was “a little like holding a bake sale to solve a $3 million problem.”

The first round of reductions freezes four vacant faculty positions and a vice president of student affairs position that were slated to be filled in the near future, and cuts funds for materials and services budgets, personnel savings that don’t impact current employees and other reductions such as a decrease in staff development funds.

The next cut, expected to be announced within the next month, may hit a little closer to home.

“Eighty percent of our budget is personnel and when you’re cutting $4 million, realistically there are going to be staff reductions,” Bailey-Fougnier said. “It’s not what anyone wants to do. I’m losing sleep about what comes next. Anything from now on is heartbreaking.”

State funding has dipped over the last couple of decades. In the 2001-02 fiscal year, the state provided 55% of general fund revenue. In the current fiscal year, state funds account for 27%.

The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act has provided more than $966,000 in support to BMCC, half of which goes directly to students, and half of which the college can use for COVID-19-related expenses. However, the funds can’t offset a general fund budget gap. Rising Public Employment Retirement System payments intensify the problem.

“We’re talking to a lot of people trying to get the best ideas, though, ultimately, it falls on my shoulders,” he said. “These are heart-wrenching decisions that we don’t want to make.”

Amid the budget pain, Bailey-Fougnier said he is buoyed and impressed by the performance of his faculty during the pandemic as they teach remotely.

“They switched in literally two weeks from how they’ve always taught to something new,” he said. “They are finding new ways to teach.”

Though the times are unprecedented, he said, he doesn’t worry about BMCC’s very survival.

“We’re going to make cuts that are difficult, but not to the point where the college is not going to survive,” Bailey-Fougnier said. “That’s not an option. My commitment is to ensure BMCC can continue to serve the students, our communities and local industries of our region for many years to come.”