Capilouto spoke directly to lawmakers in a committee meeting last month about what was then just a budget framework, acknowledging state lawmakers' concerns and arguing UK is responding.
"We recognize your first budget is lean by design. We respect this. You're being careful fiscal stewards and asking for accountability, results, and relevance," he said.
But now, with the budget taking shape and clearing one chamber of the legislature, Capilouto wrote in a campus-wide email Tuesday that UK would be hit with a 4% cut in the next fiscal year and an additional 3% cut the following fiscal year under the current spending plan.
Capilouto characterized the funds are "critical first dollars" that may compromise UK's ability to provide the same level of support, education, research, and other opportunities in the coming years.
But the state budgeting process still has two months to go and the Senate has yet to put forward its preferred version.
Even so, Capilouto said he wants the community to "know about these issues as we learn them to understand what such reductions would mean if they were enacted."