The UA president and provost say they may have to sacrifice eight to 10 UA programs due to a $7.8 million budget shortage next year € but that is all they are saying.

UA President Manuel Pacheco said in an interview yesterday that he, Provost Paul Sypherd and the Strategic Planning and Budget Allocation Committee had discussed possible mergers and cuts. He would not say, however, which programs are being considered or when a decision on cuts might be made.

Sypherd said he will meet with SPBAC about the possible cuts and mergers at its regular meeting today.

The budget shortfall means continued reduction in faculty and staff ranks. This decade, the numbers have dropped by 250 and 300, respectively.

Sypherd announced the possible cuts in Monday night's Faculty Senate meeting.

Next year's UA budget includes $295.2 million from the state, a 2.4 percent increase from last year.

Sypherd attributed the shortfall to inflation in the cost of campus maintainance and decreases in student enrollment.

During the 1995-96 school year, there was a $1.5 million decrease in tuition revenues, he said. The university anticipates a nearly $2 million decrease next year.

He said a 3 percent increase in resident tuition, about $30, and a 4 to 6 percent increase in non-resident tuition, $160 to $240, would help, leaving a smaller deficit of $4.7 million to $3.6 million.

At Monday's meeting, Faculty Sen. Miklos Szilagyi, electrical and computer engineering professor, questioned the need for the Arizona International Campus of the University of Arizona if there was a decrease of students.

The $2.1 million that will fund AIC next year comes from the state, not the UA, despite its name, so the UA cannot pull funds from AIC's budget.

Pacheco said AIC was built to anticipate the increase in enrollment of in-state students in the future.