If OU’s state funding continues to dwindle, tuition will increase to avoid faculty and staff layoffs, course elimination and increased class sizes, President David Boren said Wednesday.

Boren spoke at a news conference regarding university decisions and current issues on campus. A theme of the conference was potential budget cuts because of increased fixed costs and the possible decrease in state funding during a stalled economy.

The university faces upcoming challenges as it attempts to pay faculty competitive salaries, increased utilities and health care costs, Boren said.

These budget issues prompted Boren to send a letter to faculty and staff Nov. 10, which urged them to prepare for potential budget cuts of up to 5 percent. The letter said faculty and staff already are dealing with increased workloads and responsibilities as the university cuts costs and doesn’t fill vacated positions.

“This has been a tough time, and I think we have to recognize the sacrifices the people who have worked for the university ... have made,” Boren said.

In the last three years, OU has absorbed about $100 million in funding cuts. About $10 million of that money was covered by tuition and fee increases in the last three years, Boren said. Tuition and fee increases have averaged about 3 percent each of those years.

The main trigger for tuition increases has been the shrinking state funds that contribute to OU’s budget. In fiscal year 1998, state funding made up about 32 percent of OU’s budget. In fiscal year 2012, 18 percent of OU’s budget was state funding.

The shrinking relationship between OU’s budget and state funding has occurred because OU’s spending has increased at a greater rate than the state’s funding, according to the OU factbook. The state also has decreased funding to OU in four out of five prior fiscal years.

The university has handled these budget cuts without doing away with courses, cutting faculty and only a small increase in class sizes, Boren said. To keep current courses, faculty and class sizes small, Boren said he will be spending a lot of time at the state Capitol.

“I will be pleading with the governor, the legislative leaders, (to) at least give ... the higher education regents an increase this year,” Boren said. “We can’t cut anymore without beginning to affect quality.”