About 40 jobs will be eliminated in Penn State U’s College of Agricultural Sciences, and other university colleges may face similar predicaments, university officials say.

Chuck Gill, news director for the college, said ten jobs have already been cut and another 30 or so will disappear by July 1. The positions are primarily in the research and cooperative-extension departments, he said.

The College of Agricultural Sciences relies on appropriations from the state legislature to fund its research programs and the appropriations have since been diminishing. Because no tuition dollars are used to support the research department, the college has limited options of how to deal with the situation, Gill said.

University spokeswoman Lisa Powers said if the state appropriation is not adequate for this year, the research and cooperation extension programs will continue to face cuts.

If the state funding can’t help to lift the university out of the $11 million debt it has fallen into, other colleges will face various cuts, too, she said.

“We’re waiting for actions from Harrisburg to see if legislatures will provide the $13.5 million we sought for this budget year,” Powers said.

All heads of departments university-wide were asked to look for ways to reduce their budget by five percent. To meet that goal, it became necessary for the College of Agricultural Sciences to cut some jobs, Gill said.