An email to public colleges and universities across the state reveals the potential for large budget cuts during the next fiscal year.

The email was sent by Paul Reagan, chief of staff to Gov. Terry McAuliffe, on Nov. 1 and encourages public education institutions to prepare for a potential 7.5 percent cut to the fiscal year 2018 budget.

These cuts stem from revenue challenges faced by the state due to an approximate $1.5 million deficit this year.

Reagan said while budget cuts were kept from hitting higher education during the current year, it’s “inevitable” in the next year’s budget.

“The governor expects higher education institutions to make a concerted effort to identify real, ongoing efficiencies and related savings for fiscal year 2018,” according to Reagan.

Longwood University Communications and Media Relations Director Matt McWilliams said the state appropriation accounts for about one-fifth of the university’s operating budget.

Longwood’s annual operating budget is about $125 million, Longwood Chief of Staff Justin Pope recently told The Herald.

“During just the past few years, like all of higher education, Longwood has seen both cuts and increases in our state appropriation,” McWilliams explained. “We’ve only recently received this letter from the commonwealth, so we don’t have specifics to report, but we will work to make sure we’re prepared should it prove necessary in the fiscal 2018 budget to find some additional savings, and in ways that do not impact our core academic mission.”

McWilliams said the General Assembly and governor are always working this time of year on run-ups to the budget. It’s too early, McWilliams said, to say precisely how this process will play out during the next year.

“When the General Assembly and Governor take up the budget in January, Longwood officials will know much more,” he said.

Unlike executive branch agencies, higher- education institutions are not required to submit budget plans this month, Reagan said. He told schools this gives them “maximum flexibility to work with your respective boards and to give you time to make the most appropriate decisions.”

“Because we think long term and are working constantly to operate as efficiently as possible, we feel prepared to navigate the future,” Mcwilliams said.

He said the governor and General Assembly are deeply supportive of higher education.

In his email, Reagan said just as public education plays an integral part in the economic growth in Virginia, it is also an integral and significant part of the commonwealth’s budget.

“Tuition and fee increases beyond what was already being proposed in an institution’s six-year plan should not be considered as a mechanism to offset these reductions,” he said in the email.

“We certainly hope we will be able to continue to be a leader statewide in terms of minimizing tuition increases, as we know our three straight years of cost increases under 3 percent have been noticed and appreciated,” McWilliams said. “These continue to be challenging times nationally in terms of state financial support for higher education nationwide.”

He said Longwood will continue to do its best to show leaders and officials in Richmond that the university is an excellent investment and steward of public dollars.