In early January, UW administrators were faced with the prospect of losing $116 million under Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proposed budget.

Yesterday morning, the state Senate unveiled an even bleaker proposal, which, if passed, would cut $165 million from the UW’s budget — 42 percent greater than Gregoire’s initial proposal.

The House’s proposal, which will be released today, is expected to be just as severe. Statewide, the Senate’s proposal cuts $513 million from higher education.

“The budget presented [yesterday] by the state Senate is deeply disturbing,” wrote UW President Mark Emmert in a public statement. “Cuts of this magnitude would seriously damage the UW’s ability to serve the state . . . They would also mean a large number of layoffs and job eliminations, probably impacting more than 1,000 UW staff.”

Although the amount of money being cut is much larger than previous figures had indicated, partially because of lower tax revenues due to decreased consumer spending, the announcement was not a complete surprise to the UW administration.

UW spokesman Norm Arkans said that legislators had asked a few weeks ago for budget-cut scenarios that were 50 percent greater than Gregoire’s initial proposal, which gave the administration a strong indication that harsher cuts were coming.

Despite the dismal news, Arkans said the UW is not going to take any immediate action, such as laying off additional staff members or cutting departments. Instead, administrators are waiting to see if they will be allowed to raise tuition beyond the 7 percent cap which is now in place.

Although there aren’t many details to the plan as of yet, Gregoire has expressed interest in implementing a policy that would create a temporary surcharge that would allow the UW to raise tuition an additional 7 percent beyond the current cap, for a total tuition increase of 14 percent.

“By not allowing more flexibility on tuition, the Senate proposal blocks the UW, and the rest of higher education, from helping students and the state,” Emmert wrote. “When combined with these very deep budget cuts, the result is a huge step backward for Washington.”

Because of Pell Grant increases and the revision of a tax credit that would give more money to families struggling to pay for college, the university believes that the effect of a 14 percent tuition increase would be negligible to students.

“There’s still weeks to go in this process,” Arkans said.

During that time, administrators hope to convince legislators to allow for a greater tuition increase to combat the lack of state funding.

“We hope they understand this is the way to get more money to students,” Arkans said.

Reach news editor Casey Smith at news@dailyuw.com.