Central Wyoming College Prepared to Weather 8% Budget Cuts

By Madison Williams

Some of Wyoming’s community colleges are concerned about potential eight percent budget cuts-- but Central Wyoming College isn’t that worried. And in fact, they’re planning to trim their budget even more than would be required under Gov. Matt Mead’s plan.

Central Wyoming College in Riverton will be eliminating six positions. But college President Jo Ann McFarland says they won’t cut programs or decrease financial aid. And she says the staff cuts shouldn’t be too painful, because most of the positions are already vacant.

“We made every attempt to avoid elimination of positions that were currently occupied… we also avoided any faculty cuts, though we did make a 45,000 cut in adjunct faculty, which will mean fewer class sections available,” McFarland says.

She says the college is preemptively cutting its budget even more than the 8 percent that the state may require, in order to prepare for even larger cuts that could occur farther down the road.