FARMINGTON — Closing a structural gap in the University of Maine System means some hard discussions and decisions, Chancellor James Page said during an open campus meeting Wednesday at the University of Maine at Farmington.

Page and UMaine System Trustees Karl Turner and Marjorie Medd met with faculty, students and staff to discuss the challenges of facing a $36 million budget shortfall for the seven campuses of the UMaine System.

“The UMaine System means all of us,” Page said. “The University (of Maine) System is the most important public aspect in the State of Maine.”

It’s an entity with a mission to serve through education, research and development and public interest, he said.

During fiscal years 2015-19, the loss could amount to $65 million to $95 million “if we don’t do something,” Page said.

The system can’t ask students to bear the increased costs of education or look to Augusta for more tax dollars, he said. “We can’t cut our way to success.”

The financial gap was not a surprise. About 10 years ago, there also was a structural gap that was met, but the root causes were not eliminated, Page said.

“If they had been, we wouldn’t be here today,” he said.

Page said he foresees an enterprise that as a whole will be smaller but one that needs to collaborate and “work as a team” to serve the people of Maine.

UMF President Kathryn Foster introduced Page and the trustees using a baseball metaphor. Instead of parts of the UMaine System working as different teams in the same league, they need to be on the same team. In the past 18 months, the trustees, presidents and the chancellor have worked to find ways to pull all the players onto the same team, she said.

The seven campuses and other parts of the system are working on a strategic branding process that develops their own core brand to create a “complimentary portfolio, the full package,” Page said.

Trustee Turner told about his work in the state Legislature and a UMaine System budget in 2007 that was more than it is today.

Maine has 200,000 people who have some college education but never completed it, he said. They incurred debt but don’t have the benefit of education to get better paying jobs, he said.

The trustees are tasked with setting directions, goals and policies which help students reach their educational goals and provides the community with education that strengthens the economy, he said.

“We have to balance the budget,” he said. “We can’t live with a gap.”

Five years from now, he also sees a smaller footprint made by the UMaine System.

“We have to change to survive, to thrive and to grow,” he said.

With 560 buildings in the system, 5 percent of them dilapidated and underused, having fewer buildings could mean more resources to keep the rest in better shape, he said.

In response to questions from the audience, Page said some decisions are not within the trustees’ or chancellor’s power.

“We can’t close campuses,” he said. It’s a decision made by the Legislature, he said.

abryant@sunjournal.com