Recent budget cuts are forcing ASU’s School of Aging and Lifespan Development to suspend enrollment this May.
The school, which opened in spring 2008, offers students at all four ASU campuses an online graduate certificate and master’s degree in gerontology, the study of aging. It aims to give students the necessary tools to aid and understand the elderly.
“We have suspended admission to the program and the reason is financial,” University Vice Provost John Hepburn said. “We have not disestablished the School of Aging and Lifespan Development.”
It is important to make the distinction between enrollment being suspended and the school closing, he said, because suspending enrollment means all current students will be able to complete their certificates.
Hank Haskie, a student at the school and interim director at the Navajo Area Agency on Aging, said he was surprised to hear the news.
“Service-wise, it’s going to have an adverse impact,” Haskie said. “Aging is something we’re all going to go through. It can’t be avoided.”
He compared what the school teaches to the field of nutrition, because “everyone has to eat.”
The school boasts a gerontology graduate certificate and a more extensive master’s program in gerontology as well. These are primarily meant to complement bachelor’s degrees in social work or nursing, Hepburn said.
Almost all of the coursework is offered online in order to appeal to students at all four campuses and also to accommodate its prospective students, many of whom work part- or full-time jobs, said Kathleen Waldron, in her third and final year as director of the school.
Waldron said her reaction to the announcement was “somewhere between great surprise and shock” since the school is the only stand-alone gerontology program in the state. Other programs are available in Arizona, but they are specifically for nursing or social work students, she said.
Robelyn Garcia, a current gerontology graduate student, said she had hopes of the school introducing a doctorate program until she heard the announcement.
“I was just really surprised,” she said. “It was such a new program in an area we really need, especially in Arizona.”
According to a 2008 U.S. Census report, 13 percent of Arizonans are over the age of 65. That number is slightly higher than the U.S. average of 12.6 percent of Americans over 65.
Garcia has completed all of her coursework and now only needs to complete her master’s project to graduate.
“It was a great program,” said Garcia, who is graduating in May. “They had great professors. I learned a lot.”
Hepburn said every step has been taken to ensure that those in the program are able to finish their degrees.
Waldron said ASU’s Graduate College is giving students the option to transfer to another degree program if they wish to change their master’s degree. The college is allowing students to transfer more credits than usually allowed into other programs.
This was done to accommodate students wishing to change their degree programs because of the school’s suspension, Waldron said.
However, Waldron’s position as director of the school will be eliminated in May when the school is suspended and her future with ASU is uncertain.
Hepburn said the decision regarding Waldron’s future employment would be made in the spring.
Hepburn said he is looking forward to getting the school back up and running when the budget allows.
“Although we have suspended new admissions, we’re optimistic we can reinvigorate this program,” Hepburn said. “We do realize there is a demand for it, especially in this region.”
Reach the reporter at alex.ferri@asu.edu
