MAYVILLE (AP) - Mayville State University says it is on track to erase a $900,000 deficit by July 2010.

The deficit already has been reduced to about half, said Steve Bensen, vice president for business affairs.

"We're putting this behind us," President Gary Hagen.

A North Dakota University System report on campus finances says Mayville State's financial position remains a concern but is improving.

Richie Smith, president of the state Board of Higher Education, said the school's finances are not the worry they were two or three years ago.

"We feel Gary's done really an excellent job addressing those issues and making cuts where he had to," Smith said.

The Board of Higher Education in mid-2006 approved a deficit-cutting plan for the university that included trimming jobs, transferring some housing and book profits, and shutting down a residence hall. Hagen said earlier that changes also were made in the school's athletic program: the men's and women's soccer programs were cut and the school started handing out fewer tuition waivers.

One major change to come out of the university's financial analysis is a new heating plant that will relieve the campus of its dependency on high-priced fuel oil. The new $6.5 million plant, which is expected to pay for itself in 15 years through cost savings, will burn coal, wood or a combination when it begins operating in late 2009.

Once the school's deficits are erased, it will free up more operating dollars to fill positions that have been left open, Bensen said.

"There's a lot of people on campus that are wearing a lot of hats," he said.