Deficit affects students - Daniel McCants, the Towerlight

Layoffs of student employees have become a necessary action in order to close an overall operating budget deficit, according to University president Robert Caret. “In preparation for fiscal year 2011, Towson conducted a four percent internal reduction in all divisions last spring,” Caret said in an e-mail. “The four percent reduction resulted from cuts at the state level that trickled down to Towson. Cuts in student help/graduate assistants were just a small portion of the overall reduction strategy.” The Cook Library had to cut its overall operating budget by $250,000, in which $70,000 was from its student employee funds.