The University of Tulsa is cutting nearly 9% of its workforce as President Stacy Leeds overhauls the private university's finances. Leeds wants to more than double enrollment over the next decade.

Leeds sent an email to staff, faculty and students on Wednesday, Oct. 14, detailing the reductions, according to Public Radio Tulsa. Affected employees have been contacted, and the university does not intend to fill the vacancies, Leeds said.

The reductions primarily affect central administration. No faculty positions were eliminated, the university told KTUL. Some remaining employees will see changed job descriptions and new reporting structures aimed at reducing duplication.

TU, as the university is commonly known, carries more than $90 million in short-term debt, according to Public Radio Tulsa. Leeds projected the university will reach positive cash flow for the first time since fiscal year 2021.

The TU Collegian, the student newspaper, put the university's deficit at $130 million. The two figures may reflect different measures, but the university did not clarify. A spokesperson declined further comment.

TU's student population hovers near 4,000. Leeds wants to reach 10,000 within a decade, a goal she laid out during a Friends of Finance speech at the Allen Chapman Student Union, according to a university announcement. Reaching that target will require stronger business partnerships, expanded workforce development, increased philanthropic support and continued collaboration with Tulsa Community College, Leeds said.

"We are no longer a university that is inclined to play by the old playbook of higher ed," Leeds said during the speech.

The enrollment push follows a dramatic tuition cut Leeds announced in August. In August, TU announced it would reduce annual undergraduate tuition and required fees from about $54,000 to $25,000 beginning in fall 2027. Current students who expected to pay more than $25,000 will have their costs brought below the new cap through adjusted financial aid, Leeds said. The rate is locked in for four years for first-time, full-time students, according to the Tulsa Flyer. Graduate tuition remains unchanged.

The TU Collegian reported that the university has also instituted a three-year hiring freeze. Denise Dutton, a professor of philosophy and religion, told the student newspaper she believes TU's faculty quality will hold even as student-faculty ratios shift, pointing to the university's tradition of prioritizing teaching alongside scholarship.

TU reported more than $164 million in revenue from student tuition and fees in its most recent tax filing, nearly half its annual revenue, the Tulsa Flyer reported. Leeds, who earned her law degree at TU in 1997, has framed the changes as necessary to make the university accessible to more Tulsa families.

A spokesperson declined to comment beyond Leeds' Oct. 14 email.