NYU is going to cut administrative jobs and hike tuition to fund its aggressive plans for expansion, officials said yesterday.

The university will take millions of dollars out of its administrative budget by 2010, mostly through job reductions, Executive Vice President Michael Alfano said last night. NYU does not plan to cut faculty or student services.

He called layoffs "a last resort" and said that most of the reductions will come from not filling open positions and retraining employees for other jobs within the university. He also said the university will consider outsourcing.

The restructuring will take 18 to 21 months, Alfano said. He would not disclose how many positions will be removed but said NYU will release more details next week.

He promised that details of NYU's final budget would be posted on the internet, though the university is falling short of the complete disclosure that some student groups have demanded.

Tuition to rise

There will almost definitely be another tuition increase this year, Alfano said, adding, "We are a tuition-driven institution." He would not give specific numbers.

NYU's tuition has risen by more than $7,000 over the last five years, growing at about 5 to 5.5 percent each year.

But provost David McLaughlin said that, though tuition is the university's main resource, it is a limited one.

"It won't be able to cover all our academic programs," he said, "so we must find additional resources."

Despite the increase, this year's budget aims to provide more financial aid, Alfano and McLaughlin said.

"Any dollar that doesn't go into administrative infrastructure can be deployed into financial aid, expanding the individual schools," Alfano said.

Finding money for expansion

NYU is not in any financial trouble now, Alfano said, but it will need more money to fund its long-term plans.

Over the past few months, the university has unveiled details of plans that include opening satellite campuses around the globe and trying to expand to Governors Island, downtown Brooklyn and midtown Manhattan. Officials had previously said that growth would be paid for with loans and funds raised specifically for that purpose.

But in a university-wide e-mail yesterday afternoon, NYU President John Sexton said the university needs to find other sources of funding to support its "academic enterprise."

"NYU continues to have a high ratio of dreams to resources," he wrote.

The restructuring announced yesterday is not limited to bureaucratic restructuring, Alfano said. Everyday processes, such as energy consumption, will be examined for their efficiency.

"It's not only about reducing people, it's about doing things better," Alfano said.

The university will also look into outsourcing as a means to reduce costs, he said.

He would not elaborate on what services might be outsourced but said that NYU would only outsource "if it's less expensive, and we're assured of the quality."

Officials promised that academics will not suffer from the cuts.

"This restructuring will be undertaken with the proviso that it must not affect our academic trajectory," Sexton wrote in the e-mail.

Jane C. Timm is university editor. E-mail her at jtimm@nyunews.com. Additional reporting by Catherine Manfre and Byron Cheung.