ISU President Arthur Vailas said when he arrived at the university, it had hardly any reserves, which lawmakers made clear to him was unacceptable. It now has $7.6 million in net unrestricted assets, he said, though that is only 3.7 percent of its prior year net operating expenses, when the state Board of Education has set a minimum target level of 5 percent.

Vailas said, "We're doing our job in making difficult decisions. ... It's been very painful to do a lot more with less, but I think we're all in that boat. I'm not whining about it, but I just want people to know that this is what we all have to share, is to do more with less and to leverage more." He said ISU reduced travel, conferences, supplies, memberships and publications, and held off on filling vacant positions. "Over $8.8 million was saved in recurring costs," he said. "More than half was in personnel, of hires that were vacant, we could not hire. So we found other ways to work together."

Sen. Dean Mortimer, R-Idaho Falls, complimented Vailas for his work, and JFAC Co-Chair Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, thanked him for working with lawmakers in these difficult times. Rep. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, said, "As time goes on in this legislative sesison, we're finding out that the budget we've been presented thus far may not necessarily be balanced and we might be looking at deficits that we're going to have to prepare for." He asked whether Vailas knew what would happen if the Legislature only funded, say, 93 percent of his budget request. Vailas responded, "We are engaged right now in what we call the what-if scenario," though the what-ifs envisioned 5 or 6 percent cuts. He said, "I'm telling you, we're way down to the bone, and we're doing what we can to become self-sustaining."