A $30-million fund-raising campaign to help pay for the expansion of Rutgers University’s football stadium is in serious trouble and could fall more than $20-million short, The Star-Ledger reported.

According to a confidential cost analysis obtained by the New Jersey newspaper, university officials are considering raising ticket prices and diverting millions of dollars in football-stadium revenue to pay for the controversial $102-million project, and they may borrow even more than the $72-million planned in order to cover the gap.

Critics worry such moves could take money away from academics and research.

Members of the university’s governing board told the newspaper that Rutgers now expects private gifts to total no more than $2-million. State Sen. Raymond Lesniak, a longtime booster involved in the campaign, said the fund drive was far more difficult than predicted. He said he doubted that more than $10-million could be raised.

Rutgers faces an August 1 deadline to determine whether it can go ahead with the full construction project or should wait until more money is available.

A delay could cause major headaches for Rutgers’s football program. The head coach, Greg Schiano, negotiated a secret escape clause last year that would allow him to break his contract, without penalty, if the expansion stalls, The Star-Ledger reported last week. —Kathryn Masterson