University of Hawaii athletic department is staring at the possibility of a $2 million deficit this fiscal year and may have to lay off some part-time and temporary workers, a Board of Regents committee was told Wednesday.

In addition, officials held out the possibility that the student body could be asked to pay a higher athletic fee as early as next year and the cost of individual game football tickets — but not season tickets — could go up.

The news came with five months remaining in a fiscal year in which the athletic department was tasked with reining in its annual deficit to no more than $1 million.

When Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple wiped a $14.7 million decadelong accumulated net deficit off the books last summer, he gave the department three years to balance its approximately $30 million budget or face the possibility of cutting from its offering of 21 sports.

In the interim, Apple decreed that the annual deficit for the next three fiscal years could be no more than $1 million per year.

Athletic Director Ben Jay said athletics began the fiscal year July 1 with the projection of a $249,000 deficit but told the Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics on Wednesday, "we are, obviously, gonna see more."

Jay pegged the deficit at "probably closer to $2 million at this point," citing an $800,000 shortfall in projected football ticket revenues and the inability to come up with an additional $1 million in fundraising that had been counted on.

Under questioning by the regents, Apple said, "Am I disappointed? Yes. Did we expect a 1-11 (football) season? Quite frankly, no. We thought we’d get more bodies in the seats."

But Apple added, "I do think that is a lot better than $3.3 million (last year’s deficit). So, the trajectory is in the right direction."

Apple said, "I believe we can compensate in year two. I do think there is a much different approach now. I think fundraising activities are going to start yielding fruit at a level we’ve never seen before."

Apple also said he was "cautiously optimistic of having some changes in support from our state, whether that comes from different arrangements at the (Aloha) Stadium, whether it comes from the (Hawaii) Tourism Authority or whether it might be an infusion of (general) funds."

UH has sought to share in some revenues at Aloha Stadium, including concessions and signage, and a return to a subsidy from the HTA after a year without one. The HTA had given UH as much as $575,000.

Looking at student regent Jeffrey Acido, Apple said, "Sorry, Jeffrey, we do need to look at student fees, which are very low here. I think we need to at least have that discussion about whether those fees are appropriate."

Students are currently assessed a mandatory $50 fee per semester that contributes about $1.4 million annually to athletics. Most Mountain West member schools charge more. At New Mexico, for example, students were levied a charge of $165.20 per year, and Fresno State students pay $99 per semester.

Jay said the department has about 12 part-time and temporary employees who are paid on an hourly basis and could be laid off.

"But how much do we really save?" Jay said. "We’re using the hourly people because we can’t afford full-time people and those people are performing essential services. They are good people doing a great job."

For several minutes regents and UH officials discussed the possible ramifications of someday cutting sports, including possible language in coaches’ contracts, honoring scholarships and NCAA requirements.

Jay said cutting sports would be "an extremely painfully process for all of us, and it is definitely a last resort."

But he said, "If, the end of three years, I have failed miserably at this, then the chancellor has to make a decision: What are we going to do? That (cutting sports) is the absolute last resort. Really, I don’t want to entertain that with my coaches."

Jay said, "I’m so determined to balance the budget), we’re busting our butts here to try and make sure that we support ourselves."