Southern Oregon University is taking the difficult, but necessary steps to put itself on a solid financial footing. We can only hope that our state leaders will contribute to that effort by remembering their repeated campaign promises to assist higher education.

Mary Cullinan, SOU's new president, delivered the tough news last week, telling staff, students and the community that, unless changes are made, the university will burn through its reserves by mid-2008.

Like other Oregon universities and community colleges, SOU has been caught in a whipsaw of declining state support, increasing tuition costs and declining student enrollment.

This year, for the first time in several years, SOU reported an enrollment increase, albeit by only 13 students. That modest good news was overshadowed by the follow-up: While there are a few more students, they're taking fewer classes, resulting in an actual reduction of 91 full-time equivalent students.

The enrollment and FTE declines should come as no surprise to anyone. As state support for higher education waned, state schools were forced to cut back on offerings and raise tuition at the same time. Oregon's higher ed marketing message became, "We might give you less, but at least it will cost you more."

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For SOU, the bottom line was that, since 1999, expenses have increased 30 percent, state support decreased 6 percent and overall revenues increased 23 percent, largely on the backs of tuition-paying students and families. Salaries, already low by national standards, have risen only about 2.5 percent per year.

Last year, the school dipped into reserves to offset a $3.3 million deficit. This year, even after $2 million in cuts, the deficit will be an estimated $1 million. The cupboard will soon be bare, if SOU and state officials don't take steps to stop the bleeding.

Cullinan's announcement last week was a first public step toward laying out specific cuts in programs and staff. The college will take comments from the public through Dec. 15 and make a recommendation in January.

That recommendation will coincide with the first few weeks of the 2007 Legislature. You would be hard-pressed to find a legislator who didn't promise better funding for higher education, including community colleges, during the just-completed campaign. This time around, with an improved economy producing more revenue for the state, the politicians need to quit talking and start producing results.

We hope, too, that SOU and higher education officials can tread water until they get a clear message from the Legislature about funding. It is much harder, and more expensive, to put a program back on track once it's shut down. News of program closures also would add to the difficulty of increasing enrollments.

If cuts must be made, they should be focused, rather than across the board. The school, like the entire university system, cannot sustain excellence in any of its programs if they all continue to be slowly whittled away. It's better to let some smaller programs go dark than to cast a deepening shadow over the entire school.

Let's hope the budget-cutting process turns out to be an precautionary exercise and that the Legislature lives up to its promises. A college education continues to be a ticket to a brighter future and it's time for this state to stop making that ticket so hard to come by.