BANGOR, Maine — The University of Maine System’s financial outlook appears far less dire than it did a year and a half ago, thanks to a series of sweeping reforms and controversial cuts, according to system financial officials.

Ryan Low, the system’s chief financial officer, updated the UMaine System board of trustees on the state of the system’s five-year financial outlook during the board’s meeting Monday in Bangor.

During the meeting, several faculty members aired their concerns to the board about the process leading to the financial reforms.

In November 2014, system leaders were grappling with how to close a massive cumulative structural gap — the difference between UMaine System spending and revenue over time — that was projected to grow from $42.3 million in fiscal year 2016 to $89.6 million in fiscal year 2020, if the system didn’t make any changes and continued to operate in the red year after year.

That sparked a series of spending cuts, staff reductions and program eliminations — most notably at the University of Southern Maine — and efforts to bring in new revenue by reversing sliding enrollment trends. Those changes came under the banner of Chancellor James Page’s One University Initiative, the ongoing push to reshape the system and reduce redundancy among campuses.

Running the five-year financial analysis again in the wake of these changes, the system came up with significantly different results. The most recent scenario, presented Monday to trustees, showed the following: The cumulative structural gap has been dramatically reduced and slowed. By fiscal year 2021, it’s projected to hit $18.9 million instead of the $89.6 million it could have reached had the UMaine System taken no action to turn its finances around.

“You really start to see the effect of all the changes happening at the system,” Low said.

In the black?

For the first time since the system started running these multiyear financial forecasts, the UMaine System has predicted a surplus — albeit a small one — by fiscal year 2021. The system hopes to be in the black to the tune of $400,000. The structural gap will continue to accumulate until the 2021 surplus hits, growing from $7.2 million in the next fiscal year to $19.3 million by fiscal year 2020. But the annual deficit should continue to get smaller until it ultimately reaches the surplus.

These projections depend on several things happening:

— Campuses have a lot of work to do to build their enrollments.

— The UMaine System needs continued state support through increased appropriation, which is something the Legislature and governor have been willing to do in exchange for the system’s efforts to reduce costs and stall tuition hikes.

— The system also may need to start increasing tuition when building future budgets.

During Monday’s meeting, trustees unanimously approved a $523.4 million budget for fiscal year 2017. That budget includes flat in-state tuition for the sixth consecutive year, but the system’s financial officials expect that trend to end when the system crafts its plan for fiscal year 2018.

Costs of cuts

Several faculty members and the unions that represent them have long aired concerns about One University and the process behind those changes. For more than an hour to start the meeting, about 20 professors and union representatives took turns at the microphone to air their concerns and plead with the system to do a better job of involving faculty in these decisions.

Paul Nakroshis, a faculty member at the University of Southern Maine, said many faculty members believe the system is putting its finances ahead of the quality of the education it provides to students.

“Money is important, but I feel like this investment in the university system is an investment in our kids,” Nakroshis said.

Jim McClymer, president-elect for the Associated Faculties of the Universities of Maine, urged the board to engage faculty members early and often when considering ways to reshape the system and its campuses.

“The faculty need to be involved from problem identification, through implementation and beyond,” he said, arguing a “top-down” approach was leaving faculty out of the picture.

“You miss an awful lot from 30,000 feet,” McClymer said.

During a break in the meeting, university officials countered that faculty representatives have been involved in committees that have overseen major reforms to this point, most notably the academic restructuring.

“I think there’s a lot of concern from faculty, not knowing exactly what the end state [of One University] will be,” Samuel Collins, chairman of the board of trustees, said. The process and the reforms that will come through it remain fluid, but the goal is to improve and “right-size” the system, he added.

In other business, system trustees voted unanimously to reappoint Page as chancellor, extending his term through fiscal year 2018. He became chancellor in 2012. His salary remains unchanged at $277,500.

Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter at @nmccrea213