LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) – The University of Kansas has announced that 97 employees have accepted buyouts and will retire by the end of this year.

The university expects the buyouts announced Friday to save $4.9 million. Spokesman Gavin Young told the newspaper the positions will be held open for at least a year before decisions are made on refilling them.

Young says 11 faculty members, 66 university support staff and 20 other staff members accepted the buyouts. About 650 of the roughly 5,000 employees at the Lawrence and Edwards campuses qualified for the offer. Young says the buyouts were offered to 106 of the 149 employees who applied.

The program provides a lump-sum payment of one year’s salary, up to $100,000.