Texas A&M Interim President R. Bowen Loftin said the university should emerge fine from a state-mandated budget reduction.
But if revenues decrease and the student population grows, he warned, the future might not be as secure.
"Something has to give," he said Thursday during a pair of open forums focused on the cuts.
The state last month ordered all higher-education institutions and state agencies to prepare for a 5 percent budget cut, which at Texas A&M University amounts to $28 million over the two years that began Sept. 1.
The university is putting together a plan to submit to the A&M System offices and the state by Feb. 15. It includes eliminating money for faculty and staff merit raises next year and different target reductions for each college and division. Officials have not disclosed those target numbers.
"The easiest thing I could do is say, 'cut 5 percent.' I would have had my job done in about five seconds," Loftin said. "But that would have been a disaster because we're all different. Every college is different and every division is different. Applying an across-the-board cut to the entire university would have been stupid."
The forums -- at 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. -- were lightly attended, with only about 25 people going to each.
But not having packed forums with people lining up with questions isn't necessarily an indicator of contentment with Loftin, said Mike Simmons, a senior finance major and one of several students who attended.
"People are busy; it might be during classes," said Simmons, who came to hear Loftin's vision for the university. "I don't think it's an accurate gauge of how much people like him. Having said that, I like him."
The week before the Brazos Valley native is likely to officially become Texas A&M's 24th president, Loftin gave an overview of his journey.
The Class of 1971 Aggie physics graduate received a doctorate in physics from Rice University in 1975 before spending 23 years at the University of Houston, including as chair of the computer science department and director of the Virtual Environments Research Institute.
He then served as the executive director of the Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center at Old Dominion University before becoming chief of Texas A&M's Galveston branch campus. He served in that role until last summer.
"On June 15, my world changed," he said.
That was the day that Elsa Murano, the university's 23rd president, resigned amid a clash with A&M System Chancellor Mike McKinney. The night before, Loftin said, he got a call from McKinney's chief of staff, telling him he was on the short list for interim president.
He began the drive to College Station minutes after the Board of Regents' decision.
Next Friday, barring an unexpected event, Loftin is almost assured to be confirmed as president.
"My concern," Loftin quipped to giggles, "is you'll find those male model pictures of me."
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