Faced with the loss of $100 million from its endowment, Texas Christian University is looking hard for cuts. Already, officials have asked departments to trim 8 to 10 percent of their budgets for next school year and are imposing a hiring freeze.

Such belt-tightening could become common at campuses across Texas. Schools that saw endowment values skyrocket during recent boom years are now calculating how many millions they lost when the stock market plummeted last summer and fall.

TCU and Southern Methodist University, both private schools, are already planning to rethink and trim spending, officials report. Public universities contacted by The News are waiting to see how much money they get from the Legislature before announcing any cuts, officials said.

"You would have to be under a rock not to know that times are difficult," said Jim Hille, TCU's chief investment officer. "We will try to maintain the momentum of the university."

Hille said TCU sent a letter to its faculty, staff and students detailing the drop in the school's endowment fund. The letter warned to expect cuts in operational expenses.

SMU is just beginning work on its 2009-10 budget, but officials said departments would be asked to hold spending at this year's level and to prepare for as yet undetermined campus-wide spending cuts. A letter from president R. Gerald Turner in November mentioned endowment losses but expressed confidence that SMU would meet the goals of its recently announced $750 million capital campaign.

Still, the letter said, SMU expects "budgetary challenges" as it copes with the endowment drop and the effects of a recession that's expected to drag on for months.

"We're entering an era where we will be prudent," said Brad Cheves, SMU's vice president for external affairs.

Among schools surveyed by The News, the University of North Texas has taken the hardest endowment hit, with a drop in value of more than 25 percent. UNT officials have a preliminary plan that, if approved, would create a sliding scale for reducing payouts from the endowment to protect its core worth. The bigger the drop in value, the bigger the payout cut.

UNT has the newest and smallest endowment among the schools surveyed. The endowment provides less than one half of 1 percent of the university's operating funds; it mainly pays for student scholarships.

"Scholarships will see a lower payout," said Andrew Harris, UNT's vice president for finance. He said the university would try to make up the difference by reallocating money on hand and by appealing to the Legislature.

The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University at College Station and Texas Tech University are also hoping for help from lawmakers. Officials at all three universities said they are asking for more money to help offset endowment losses and are holding off on spending cuts until they know more.

"The big unknown for us is what happens in the state Legislature," said Kevin Hegarty, UT-Austin's chief financial officer.

That help isn't likely to come, according to Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, chair of the Subcommittee on Higher Education. She said that state leaders have asked for 10 percent spending cuts from state agencies and that other senators are more focused on such higher education issues as changes to the "top 10 percent rule."

"But that's not going to stop us from trying," Ms. Zaffirini said.

Officials at public universities said endowment spending wouldn't be seriously affected, at least not immediately, because payouts are based on averages of the endowment's value over a few years. These averages absorb short-term gains or losses, allowing schools to rely on a fairly stable level of spending unless the endowment's drop continues for a prolonged period.

UNT, Texas Tech and UT-Austin have three-year rolling averages, while Texas A&M-College Station's endowment uses a five-year rolling average.

The University of Texas and Texas A&M systems receive the bulk of their endowment from the Permanent University Fund – money from West Texas oil and gas leases that is invested by the state.

Texas A&M-College Station is in the early stages of identifying potential cuts. Officials have asked departments to prioritize projects in case the state doesn't provide all the requested funding.

Officials at UT-Austin and Texas Tech indicated that budgets will probably be tighter than in previous years but said they haven't asked departments to make any cuts for now.

UT-Austin president Bill Powers e-mailed a letter explaining how the school is trying to be fiscally responsible by participating in purchasing cooperatives on everything from office supplies to health care. Like SMU, the University of Texas decided to forge ahead with a major capital campaign – $3 billion in UT's case.

"I question people who are in the position of saying we have to freeze this, cut that," said Hegarty, the UT-Austin chief financial officer. "We don't want to suggest that the sky is falling. We've managed well through it already, and our size works to our advantage."

Click here to see a chart detailing endowment losses.