Arizona State to cap enrollment, cut programs

Arizona State University says $88 million in state-imposed budget reductions will force it to enact an enrollment cap and close some four dozen academic programs.

ASU spokeswoman Sharon Keeler said Tuesday that no specific enrollment ceiling was announced immediately, but closures will start at once.

"The issue is going to be closing about four dozen academic programs, many of these on the Tempe campus, and scaling down administrative operations on the Polytechnic and West campuses," Keeler said.

The application deadline for next semester's freshman class will end March 1, five months early.

Programs will be closed in the colleges of arts and sciences, the arts, education, teacher education and leadership, technology and innovation, interdisciplinary arts and sciences and the management and agribusiness school.

The College of Technology and Innovation will be the sole college administered at the Polytechnic Campus in east Mesa. ASU West will be renamed "New College," meaning no more graduate degree programs will be offered there.

Many existing programs will be moved to downtown Phoenix.

ASU President Michael Crow said the east and west campuses might close, depending upon what happens with the state's 2010 budget.

Keeler said there will be layoffs of staff and contract faculty, but she's not sure how many - or when - those layoffs will happen.

The budget casualties will include the AIMS Scholarships, which have been available to high school students who score well on Arizona's AIMS test.

"Students who are currently here at ASU on an AIMS scholarship, as long as they continue to meet the academic requirements, will maintain that scholarship," Keeler said. "It will no longer be offered for new students coming into the university."

ASU students expressed disappointment at the cutbacks, but some said they are inevitable because of the economy.

"I really don't want to see them close down," one student said about the loss of dozens of programs. "That would just be a defeat."

Another student said, "When there really is a lack of funds, there's going to wind up being a lack of quality."

And, a third said, "The cuts here at ASU are bothering me just because I feel like the quality of education is going down."

(Copyright 2008 Bonneville International Corporation. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. AP contributed to this report.)