FAS currently has an $80 million deficit, an improvement from the $110 million deficit Smith cited at the beginning of this academic year.

Though administrators say they are pleased with the results of last year’s budget-cutting measures—including a wave of layoffs and an early retirement package for staff—Smith described the remaining sum as “huge,” earlier this year.

In a letter sent to department and center administrators early last month, FAS Dean for Administration and Finance Leslie A. Kirwan ’79 sought to clarify the ongoing budgeting approach based on the first-dollar principle.

“This year’s budget process will be more in concert with this principle by placing a greater level of focus on core expenses,” she wrote.

—Staff writer Noah S. Rayman can be reached at nrayman@fas.harvard.edu

—Staff writer Elyssa A.L. Spitzer can be reached at spitzer@fas.harvard.edu.