According to the Centre Daily Times of State College, PA, Penn State University’s English department will cut its MFA in creative writing program. All applicants hoping to start their MFA at Penn State in the Fall of 2012 received a notice that, since funding had been cut, there would be no acceptances mailed out. Current students will be able to finish their degree with the same funding they were promised and no faculty from the English department will be laid off.

Mark Morrison, interim head of the English department, expressed that this was not an easy decision to make, but that in light of budget cuts and a desire to not accept new students who could not be fully-funded the program could not go on. After reassessing the funding situation, it was determined that the program would only be able to partially fund three new students. Just last year the program had admitted a total of six students with fellowship support.

“We decided it was in everyone’s best interest not to admit students under those terms,” said Morrison.

In order to keep venues open for creative writing at Penn State, the English department is currently proposing a joint bachelor’s and master’s degree in creative writing that would take five years to complete. The MFA program was only one among several programs at the university that had to be closed, merged, or drained of funding.

Source: http://www.centredaily.com.../funding-forces-cuts-to-program.../