Syracuse University has already paid a portion of its $7.5 million exit fee to leave the Big East, SU Senior Vice President for Public Affairs Kevin Quinn said Thursday.

Quinn said the university has paid approximately 20 percent of the exit fee that will allow the Orange to leave the Big East on July 1, 2013. The remainder will be paid over a multi-year period, he said, but he could not give any details as to when the exit fee will be paid off completely, as “the exit agreement was confidential between the university and the Big East.”

Syracuse, along with Pittsburgh, announced it would leave the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference in September 2011. Both schools will move to the ACC in July. The Big East’s seven basketball-only Catholic schools have also decided to leave the conference in recent weeks, leaving the future of the Big East in serious doubt.

Syracuse’s game against West Virginia in the Pinstripe Bowl Saturday will mark the final football game for the Orange as a member of the Big East.