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COVID-19 pandemic cost University of Tennessee System around $147 million

The Board of Trustees said the University of Tennessee System lost around $147 million across four campuses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The University of Tennessee lost around $147 million due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to officials. They met Thursday afternoon discusses the university's finances and future plans.

The loss was spread across four campuses across Tennessee. However, Knoxville's flagship campus lost the most money of them all, at around $117 million, according to officials.

The board said that most of the lost revenue was from UT Athletics after several games were canceled and the football season was changed to be conference-only. Officials said the department lost around $40 million due to changes in the football season, and changes to other events on campus.

Chancellor Donde Plowman said that the department has a gap of more than $15 million due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials said that the department is reducing costs through a tiered salary reduction plan, and a possible loan to the department from the university.

UT System President Randy Boyd said Friday the university was able to move around funds to cover most of the loss. They reduced offsetting costs and are relying on their three key sources of revenue: tuition, state funding and research funding.

Tuition did not increase this school year, but enrollment did, so more money came in that way this school year.

Boyd doesn't know yet if tuition will increase in 2021.

In terms of state funding, Boyd said the university was allotted the same amount of money this year as it was the previous school year, so there was no deficit there.

Research funding actually went up about 1.4 percent this year according to Boyd.

"So in all the key sources of revenue we were either flat or up," he said.

That helped cover that loss, leaving a much smaller chunk for the UT system to cover.

"So the net loss for the system excluding UT Athletics was only $9 million and we have reserves to be able to cover for that," said Boyd.

He said there is not a hiring freeze, and there are no plans to reduce salaries in any more departments.

"We are carefully evaluating each position to make sure that we're being very cautious with our resources right now," said Boyd.

Earlier this week, UT Athletics announced salary cuts to all staff members making over $50,000 a year.

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