Going “off the grid” has become a popular catchphrase meaning energy independence, but President Mary Cullinan of Southern Oregon University is proposing something radically different for her institution.

Ms. Cullinan told faculty and staff members that the university should become financially independent of the state government, which has provided a rapidly shrinking share of the university’s budget — dropping from 40 percent in 1999 to about 18 percent in 2007, when the institution was forced to cut jobs and programs to cover a $4-million shortfall.

The university will try to pave the path to fiscal freedom by raising more money for an endowment, increasing tuition and financial aid, and focusing on keeping more students at the institution beyond their freshman year, when nearly a third leave, according to the Mail Tribune, a local newspaper.

Under a new academic plan, the university is also seeking to raise enrollments in online courses and professional-certification courses. —Eric Kelderman