From left, Kansas Board of Regents Chairwoman Jill Docking, Regents President Reginald Robinson, and state Rep. Eber Phelps, D-Hays, talk Tuesday prior to meeting of Legislative Educational Planning Committee in Statehouse. Higher ed officials said recent budget cuts have had a negative impact on state universities.

Topeka ? Budget cuts have forced state universities in Kansas to shed approximately 655 positions, reduce class offerings and increase class sizes, officials said Tuesday.

And the fear is that more cuts will be needed because of the recession that has eaten into state tax revenues.

“We really need to hope that this is as far as it goes,” Kansas University interim Chancellor Barbara Atkinson told members of the Legislative Educational Planning Committee.

“It’s terrible,” said state Sen. Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita, who is chair of the committee.

Schodorf said recent progress in pumping up programs at KU to meet the challenge of a shortage in nursing, engineering and math and science teachers, may be reversed.

“It’s depressing,” she said.

Statewide, universities have reduced personnel by 655 through layoffs, vacant positions that are held open, and eliminated positions, according to Kansas Board of Regents President Reginald Robinson. State funding to higher education has been cut from $853 million before the recession to $753 million, Robinson said.

Approximately 448 classes and programs have been eliminated, he added.

At KU, 200 positions have been cut — 121 at KU in Lawrence and 79 at the Medical Center — Atkinson said. The Learning Communities Office, which helped in retaining students at KU, has been eliminated.

State general funding cuts to KU’s Lawrence campus totaled nearly $18 million, while the Med Center suffered a $14.2 million hit. Federal stimulus funding and the recent tuition increase will make up some of those cuts, but not all, Atkinson said.

To put the Med Center’s $14.2 million cut in perspective, Atkinson noted that the entire budget for the School of Nursing was $8.4 million.

Atkinson said further cuts would probably mean either layoffs, furloughs or salary cuts.

“It’s a choice of bad choices,” she said.