::View ASU’s proposed response to state budget cuts::

ASU will cap enrollment in addition to enacting more layoffs and cutting about 4-dozen academic programs and funding for a scholarship program, University officials announced Tuesday.

Effective March 1, applications for the class of 2013 will close — five months earlier than past deadlines.

Funding of the AIMS scholarship program, which covers tuition costs to incoming freshmen with competitive GPAs and test scores, will be suspended.

Both the Polytechnic and West campuses will be cut to one college each as programs will either be cut or moved to the Downtown campus, and West campus will be renamed the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences to better fit its new role.

The majority of program cuts will occur at the Tempe campus. A few dozen programs have stopped accepting applications to begin the closing-out process.

Students currently enrolled in programs that plan to close will be able to complete those programs within a reasonable amount of time that has yet to be determined, ASU officials said.

West and Polytechnic campuses could close entirely in fiscal year 2010, ASU officials said.

University representatives were unavailable for comment and did not return phone calls.

Most cuts will be effective immediately, while others are pending the result of a vote by the Arizona Board of Regents.

News of these cuts reached the ABOR the same time as it did the public, and all cuts are pending the approval of the board.

These cuts are in response to state budget cuts, which since June 2008 have totaled $88 million of the University’s base state funding.

After the $88 million cuts, the new fiscal year 2009 budget reduced ASU’s per-student, state general funds to what it was 10 years ago. ASU received $7,976 per student in 2008 and $6,500 in 2009, making the latter only $4 more per student than what it received in 1998.

President Michael Crow said in a statement that it is impossible to sustain the drastic cuts without cuts to programs and activities.

“I must emphasize that these changes are what we have had to do to cope with state budget cuts this year and would not be sufficient to deal with a possible further reduction in state funding in [fiscal year 2010],” Crow said.

Regent Ernest Calderón said he wished the regents were aware of these cuts before Tuesday in order to have the opportunity to approve the changes.

“The things [cuts] that are suggested will be considered by the regents and are not automatically going to occur,” Calderón said.

Calderón said the board is waiting to hear back from the president of the board to see what approvals, if any, can be made.

“With $191 million in [state and university] cuts, some dramatic cuts had to be made,” Calderón said. “Some are necessary, and some I feel very strongly opposed to, such as the cuts to ASU West.”

Andrea Smiley, spokeswoman for the board, added that it is unclear as to when the regents will have time to vote on the cuts and what they will be approving.

“I couldn’t tell when they will convene to discuss, but right now they’re re-evaluating it [cuts] all,” Smiley said.

Crow said in a statement that cuts of such magnitude are painful to everyone at ASU, but there is no choice.

“For the past seven years, ASU has expanded its enrollment, added new academic programs and enhanced quality and productivity at every level to serve the people of Arizona better,” Crow said.

Crow said late last year that he has never planned to cap enrollment, despite the tuition increases and issues with the state budget deficit.

“A public university should admit every student that has the capability to do university-level work, and we’re organized to do that,” Crow said to The State Press editorial board on Nov. 20. “Right now we’re not being financed to do that.”

Reach the reporter at brianna.mattox@asu.edu.