Middle Tennessee State University is briefing employees on a buyout option in an effort to reduce payroll costs.

The buyout offers employees who walk away from the university $500 for every year they’ve worked there, in addition to three months’ base salary and other money based on a worker’s insurance premiums.

Kathy Musselman is in charge of informing staff about the buyout effort; she says a lot of workers are asking questions, but she’s not sure how many will go through with applying.

“I think it’s just inquiring minds want to know. I really don’t know whether people are serious about it or not. I guess we’ll see come January 15th.”

Mid-January is the deadline for buyout applications, which the school formally begins accepting at the end of November.

Other schools in the Tennessee Board of Regents have reported the majority of workers taking buyouts were secretaries. MTSU is looking for almost half the buyouts to come from faculty, but Musselman says the school will work with what it gets.