BANGOR — University of Maine System trustees approved a nearly $518 million budget on Monday morning, but had to balance it by dipping into reserves to the tune of $7 million in spite of recent cuts across the system.

The budget also holds in-state tuition steady for the fourth consecutive year — the longest tuition freeze in the system’s history. That should hold as long as the state appropriation in Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed budget is supported by the Legislature.

The $7.1 million in reserve funds will be split among five of the system’s seven campuses — the University of Maine at Presque Isle will receive $2.3 million from reserves; the University of Maine at Fort Kent and University of Southern Maine each will receive $1.5 million; the University of Maine Machias gets $1.2 million; and the University of Maine at Farmington needed $600,000. Only the flagship campus in Orono and the University of Maine at Augusta presented budgets that didn’t require money from reserves.

“I’m very concerned about the small campus’ deficits,” Trustee Shawn Moody said.

“This level of deficit spending is not sustainable and is stark evidence that the current operating model is broken,” Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Rebecca Wyke told the trustees during her budget presentation.

Wyke said continued financial struggles could result in a downgraded Standard & Poor’s credit rating. S&P in February downgraded the system’s long-term outlook from stable to negative. A lower credit rating would mean the system would have to borrow money at higher interest rates.

Trustee Jim Erwin expressed concern about declining enrollment trends at several campuses. USM, for example, projects its enrollment revenue will fall about 3.6 percent between fall 2015 and 2016, in spite of boosted marketing investments during the past year.

Systemwide enrollment is projected to be down 2.5 percent from last fall, and down 7.5 percent since 2010.

The system’s 2016 budget eliminates a net 194 positions — all of which have been identified during the past year. The system eliminated 157 positions during the course of building its budget in 2014. Most of the cuts approved Monday involved previously vacated positions or retirements.

The fiscal year 2016 budget is about $11 million smaller than the current one.

On top of these challenges, the system faces a $961 million backlog in deferred maintenance on its buildings scattered across the state. More than half of that backlog is considered “critical,” according to an independent review.

Budget documents and analysis are available in meeting materials on the system’s website.

In spite of recent cuts and increasing state appropriations, the system’s financial problems will persist unless dramatic change happens, trustees and system administrators said.

Those changes are in the planning stages, and on Monday received conceptual broad support from trustees.

As part of Chancellor James Page’s One University initiative, the system office is pushing to create a unified budget for fiscal year 2017, one in which the system creates the budget and passes allocations down to campuses. In the past, campuses have proposed their own, independent budgets to the system.

The system also hopes to reorganize and consolidate administrative functions to cut down on redundant overhead costs.

Page said Monday that “the current [financial] status is not only unacceptable, it’s irresponsible,” and that without substantive structural and cultural changes, the system will continue to be “hobbled” by division and lack of collaboration among campuses.

Without drastic change, UMS officials project a $90 million budget deficit by 2020.

The concepts have raised concerns among faculty on some campuses, that their universities will lose control of their spending and finances.

In a letter to trustees, University of Maine faculty members, including Habib Dagher, director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center, Francois Amar, dean of the honors college, and Ivan Manev, dean of the business school, aired their worries.

They criticized the system for not involving faculty, lack of clarity about what’s being planned, and negative publicity surrounding the system, among other grievances. System officials countered that the planning for these changes is just beginning and there will be more discussions with campuses about how to make these changes work.

The board Monday also approved several new degree programs, including a bachelor’s in cybersecurity — part of a collaboration among the University of Maine at Fort Kent, the University of Maine at Augusta, and USM; a master’s of science in spatial informatics at UMaine; and a bachelor’s in conservation law enforcement at UMFK.