More than 300 Pitt employees have accepted an early retirement offer the University put… More than 300 Pitt employees have accepted an early retirement offer that the University put into effect April 24 in an effort to cut costs at the University as a result of the decline in state funding.

According to a press release on Monday, the University’s Voluntary Early Retirement Plan was extended to 672 employees who have worked at the University for at least 10 years and are at least 59 years old. More than 500 employees could potentially leave by the end of the month if another 270 employees accept the offer before the June 15 deadline. Because those employees are classified, there is no way to distinguish which University departments they work in.

Pitt spokesman Robert Hill said in an email that the University did not set a specific goal or expectation for how many eligible employees would take advantage of the early retirement program, and he did not have an estimate for how much money the staff reductions would save the University.

Hill said that employees taking advantage of the program would receive “health and financial benefits,” but he did not return a request for details on the specific benefits.

Chancellor Mark Nordenberg explained in the press release that this retirement plan was made in light of drastic funding cuts from the state.

The National Science Board’s “Science and Engineering Indicators 2012” ranked Pennsylvania to be among the five states with the lowest appropriation of state tax funds for supporting higher education in the 2010 fiscal year, but things have only gotten worse since then.

During the 2012 fiscal year, Pitt lost more than $67 million in state support, due to a 22 percent reduction, an additional 5 percent cut during the year, and a 50 percent reduction in capital projects support.

Nordenberg said these financial blows are lamentable.

“Demand for the high-quality programs provided by the University of Pittsburgh has continued to rise dramatically, even during the national economic downturn. In fact, the work done at Pitt, both in education and in research, has been one of the key drivers of regional economic growth and helped cushion western Pennsylvania from the worst impacts of the recession,” Nordenberg said. “As a result, this loss of jobs not only is unfortunate for Pitt but is bad news for the people of this region.”

Nevertheless, Nordenberg said the step to reduce staffing with the Voluntary Early Retirement Plan was unavoidable in the face of the budget cuts.

As for the future, the Chancellor remains optimistic, with faith that state funding and allowances will improve in the years to follow.

“Fortunately, the state’s revenue projections have measurably improved since that early February proposal was made,” Nordenberg said, referring to the proposed state budget. “There seems to be strong and growing support to use some of those funds to spare Pennsylvania’s public universities from a second successive year of deep and disproportionate cuts, and we are hopeful that position will prevail when the state budget is finally approved.”

But if such changes providing public universities with financial relief are not met, many schools might find themselves in a financial quagmire. This, in turn, could negatively affect the community.

“If the recommended reductions stand, Pitt will have lost more than 50 percent of its state support, well in excess of $100 million, in just two years,” Nordenberg said. “That cannot be good, either for today’s Pennsylvania families or for the collective future of Pennsylvania.”

Hill said that further staff reductions will depend on the state’s contribution to the University’s budget.

“The University continues to advocate in Harrisburgh [sic] for restoration of the proposed appropriation cuts,” Hill said in an email. “Plans regarding staff await Harrisburgh [sic] decisions.”