Facing budgetary pressure, the University of Vermont has advised top administrators to look for options for trimming their budgets by up to 3 percent if needed. Richard Cate, the university’s vice president for finance and administration, said Friday that he has asked people to look for potential savings as part of a budgeting process that will run until March. He said no decisions will be made on actual cutbacks until April, when university officials have a better idea of what revenues to expect in the coming fiscal year. “If it looked like our revenue was going to come in higher than what we were expecting now, we might not have to do it," Cate said. "But if things stay the way they are, they may have to have some modest cuts."  The units asked to find areas to trim were administrative — such as finance and human resources — and not academic, Cate said. They’ve been asked to describe how they would reduce their budgets by 1 percent, 2 percent and 3 percent, he said. “It’s a fairly normal process,” he said. “We’re a public university in a small state with tuition that’s already higher than we wish.” [content-1] The state’s flagship university, which is searching for a new president, has been signaling for months that it’s facing financial pressure. In October, trustees announced that undergraduate tuition rates would increase 2 percent for state residents and 4.5 percent for out-of-staters next year, the first increase in five years. The board also raised room and board rates 3.5 percent for the coming academic year. Union members have been pushing UVM hard for cost-of-living increases, saying it's difficult for faculty and staff to afford the area's housing prices. In December, full-time faculty in the United Academics union ratified a contract that includes a salary increase of 4 percent, effective at the beginning of last month, and a lump sum payment of $1,100 to each faculty member. The contract includes a 3 percent raise for the remaining three years of the agreement, and raises minimum salaries for lecturers. UVM started the academic year with a $10 million deficit in its $941 million budget, a gap that Cate said could be closed with discretionary funds. He blames rising health insurance costs. Vermont employers pay some of the highest health insurance premiums in the country, and the monthly cost of a typical plan on…