Budget cuts to the state’s public colleges and universities could strike the schools earlier than anticipated. The schools are already bracing for across-the-board 10 percent cuts in the next Fiscal Year, whichbegins July 1st, but University of Missouri System President Manuel Pacheco says those cuts might come early – in the final two months of the current Fiscal Year. Pacheco says higher education has already cut the fat. He’s not sure how colleges and universities can absorb further cuts.