When Mary Cullinan became president of Southern Oregon University in September, the 5,000-student public university in the foothills of the Siskiyou Mountains was in dire financial shape. A $4-million shortfall had forced university officials to dip deep into its financial reserves, draining them to perilously low levels. The path back to financial health will not be easy. A budgetary retrenchment laid out by Cullinan in March cuts 22 academic programs, eliminates the German major, and merges three colleges into one. Cullinan says that several years of tight state budgets, combined with declining enrollment, left Southern Oregon with few options. Southern Oregon is not the only university in the state to face cutbacks. Six of the Oregon University system's seven campuses--all but the University of Oregon--had their budgets reduced during the last two-year budget period. This article discusses how Oregon colleges and universities are responding to these budget cuts and addresses the question of whether budget downturns truly cause regional institutions to struggle more than flagship universities.