The University of Illinois campus newspaper says it is “falling apart” amid the school’s “dismal” budget cuts, as newsroom employees are reportedly “terrified” about what the campus will look like next year. "The campus could be on the verge of collapse," former staff writer Lester Mejia said, according to the school’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Illini. “People are legitimately scared because we do not know what our campus is going to look like next year. There’s nothing in the staff’s contract or handbook that says we are in danger of being fired or laid off,” Mejia added. “To be honest, we don’t even know if there will be a paper in January.” ADVERTISEMENT Mejia said the school is still waiting for an answer from the Department of Labor about whether the institution will lose any federal subsidies to fund the newspaper, which is expected to mean a 15 percent reduction in the amount it receives. “We know we will lose some of our federal funding, but we don’t know how much because we haven’t gotten a response from the Department of Labor for some reason,” Mejia said. “Basically, if it’s not funding, it’s not possible for us to survive.” With the loss of federal funding, the paper’s staff will have to find a way to support itself without subsidies. “To make matters worse, we don’t even have the funding we normally would have to hire replacement staff in the future. We have a lot of talented, passionate journalists who can do this job, but even if we can find a way to cover the basics, we would certainly be unable to hire anyone full time to do the other things that have always been core to the job,” he said. On Thursday, Editor-in-Chief Chris Bittner announced he would leave the newspaper by the end of the month, according to The Chicago Tribune. The staff is also reportedly preparing for an influx of layoffs that may result from the Trump administration’s budget proposal, which could result in 1,000 staff cuts at the school. “The staff has an understanding that if they can stay, they will stay. There is this group of people who are genuinely terrified that if this budget is passed, we will all be laid off,” Mejia said. “People are scared we are just one news event away from being cancelled.” The Daily Illini’s management said in a statement Thursday that the college is trying to keep their “eyes wide open” despite the potential impacts of the Trump administration’s budget cuts. “Given this uncertainty, The Daily Illini’s management has taken steps to preserve jobs at the newspaper as much as possible and protect The Daily Illini’s coverage and services,” interim editor-in-chief John Tabor said, according to the news outlet. Last year, several major colleges nationwide, including Arizona State University, Arizona Public Media, the University of Arizona and the University of North Carolina, cut their operating budgets by 4 percent, while the University of Illinois budget has remained mostly flat since 2002, the newspaper reported. The college administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill. Updated: 12:21 p.m.