More layoffs and budget cuts are looming at the University of Chicago amid a financial squeeze associated with an ongoing building spree. Staffers are getting notices this week about their jobs ending June 30, while department heads are under orders to chop spending on top of what they trimmed last year.

“It's not a mood of great confidence and optimism,” says Willemien Otten, a theology professor who heads the campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

The university confirmed the layoffs, but not a specific number. An insider put them at about 100 and said they're not the last; another round is set for December. The Hyde Park school employs some 8,000, not counting medical center workers.

In a statement, the university mentioned its attack on rising administrative costs, a subject explored last year in Crain's, adding, "This will ensure a financially sustainable basis for the ongoing investments the university is making in support of faculty, academic initiatives, and comprehensive support for students. While the cost containment will be achieved primarily through attrition and controls on hiring, some reduction of current staff positions is also necessary."

Last year, academic departments were required to whittle overhead by 2 percent and nonacademic ones by at least 5 percent. This year and possibly the next, the cuts are going to be even steeper, according to an attendee at a meeting on the topic.

A person in a position to know said the university's bottom-line push accelerated when trustee Joseph Neubauer became chairman of the board a year ago. His first affiliation with the university was studying for an MBA; he went on to become CEO of food service firm Aramark.

For the 12 months ended June 30, U of C operating margins narrowed as revenue increased 5.6 percent and operating expenses rose 5.9 percent, according to the university's annual report. Academic salaries grew 4.1 percent, a slower pace than overall compensation's 6.2 percent advance.

"Obviously people are concerned about what is being done,” says Denis Hirschfeldt, a math professor involved in an informal faculty group addressing issues of university governance. "There's not a lot of communication about how decisions are being made.”

Otten says her divinity department colleagues hope to steer clear of layoffs through attrition, "salary measures," fewer teaching assistants "and other ways of making small adjustments."

The university's long-term debt was downgraded in February by Standard & Poor's, which noted three years of annual operating deficits, with more planned through next year, and “significant” exposure to the health care industry, mainly attributable to U of C Medicine.

Moody's that month also cited "significant financial leverage," thin cash flow and rising debt service but didn't change its rating, because of "expected strong gift revenue that will ultimately grow balance sheet resources."