In her recent Maine Voices column (“People of southern Maine should support a robust and expansive USM,” Sept. 19), University of Southern Maine professor Lorrayne Carroll displayed her interest in the university and concern for its future. We endorse her call for further investment in USM. However, her observations need clarification and further explanation.

Professor Carroll got her proportions between direct spending on faculty and the rest of the university budget wrong: It’s not a quarter, as she claimed, but a third.

It may still surprise many readers that the percentage is not higher – but the reality is that it takes a lot more than professors to deliver a first-class education nowadays. There are recruiters to bring in new students; counselors to guide students to the right classes; financial aid specialists to help with making college affordable; grounds and facilities people to keep up the buildings, labs and dorms; researchers, human resources support for the faculty and staff; and a long, long list of other workers needed to make the student’s experience a successful one. USM faces a $16 million budget deficit in the next fiscal year, so more painful decisions around program elimination and faculty and staff cuts are going to have to be made. This work is necessary and it is essential if USM is to ever become Maine’s metropolitan university.

USM has long tried to be all things to all people. It is time for the university to become leaner and more efficient. USM must be affordable and accessible to students, and USM must prioritize its degree offerings to meet the needs of its students and the communities it serves. The work ahead will be hard, but we believe USM will emerge stronger, more innovative and more student-centric as a result.

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