LEWISTON – It was a low-key hearing attended by less than a dozen people, a meeting dramatically more subdued than some of the other forums about the University of Maine System’s reorganization.

But the questions weren’t any easier.

How will restructuring the University of Maine System save money? What will happen to students if the system gets rid of its two-year programs? How can the University of Southern Maine possibly support four separate campuses?

And, for some participants, the official answers weren’t any clearer.

“I think I’ve come away with more questions than when I came in,” said Lewiston resident Dick Sabine.

At issue is a plan by Chancellor Joseph Westphal to restructure the University of Maine System. Among other things, the plan calls for the University of Southern Maine to take over the University of Maine at Augusta. That means USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College and the University of Maine at Augusta, which share a Lewiston campus, would merge. The University of Maine at Augusta would no longer grant associate’s degrees.

Nine public forums have been held this spring, some attended by hundreds of people worried how the restructuring could affect their schools and their degrees.

Held at Lewiston-Auburn College Thursday evening, the latest public hearing was led by University of Maine at Augusta President Charles Lyons, University of Southern Maine President Richard Pattenaude, system Board of Trustees Chairman Charles Johnson and system Vice Chancellor Elsa Nunez. Westphal was unable to attend.

Less than a dozen students, faculty members and area residents were in the audience.

Evelyn Greenlaw, a librarian at Lewiston-Auburn College, asked how USM could support campuses in Portland, Gorham, Lewiston and Augusta without stretching itself too thin.

“We worry about the same thing,” said Pattenaude, head of USM.

But, he added, USM would be inheriting a strong school with growing enrollment and appropriations of its own.

Other participants wanted to know what was going to happen to students if the system dropped its associate’s degree programs, since some programs weren’t offered anywhere else. Some wanted to know how the system planned to save money and how many people would lose their jobs.

During the hour-and-a-half hearing, officials answered every question, assuring people that students won’t suddenly find themselves without a program and that the plan will save money by consolidating campuses. Some jobs will be lost, they said, but many will be erased when people leave for other jobs or retire.

Through it all, though, officials said they could provide few details about the plan. Such details won’t be established until after the Board of Trustees votes on the general proposal in the fall.

Residents still have a chance to comment on the reorganization plan by sending an e-mail to [email protected] or writing Elsa Nunez, vice chancellor for academic and student affairs, 107 Maine Ave., Bangor, ME 04401

The formal public comment period ends June 30.

[email protected]