Nova Scotia’s financially troubled fine arts university has approved a budget that cuts its projected $2.4 million operating deficit by half.

Daniel O’Brien, acting president at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, says the school has cut $1.2 million through a series of measures, including the reduction of six staff positions through attrition, cutting energy costs and by eliminating up to 55 under-enrolled classes.

O’Brien says the university will also hold the line on costs in the 2012-13 fiscal year, while it increases tuition by three per cent and introduces student fees to boost revenues.

He says the moves are based on a sustainability report submitted to the province on March 30.

A report released last December called on the school to review its programs and curriculum and to also look at how it uses space at its three campuses.

It said that without the changes the viability of the school as an independent entity would be in doubt.