The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences took a $1.72-million funding hit this year – less than 3 percent of the college’s budget.

Due to the sluggish Iowa economy, Iowa State had to take hits in many departments. The LAS cut was one of the smallest in the university – only 2.8 percent of the budget, on par with the College of Engineering, said David Gieseke, program coordinator for LAS.

“[The] cut may have been the largest dollar-wise, but it was the smallest percentage-wise,” he said.

Gieseke said the cut was not as big as other colleges, because LAS has one of the largest budgets at Iowa State.

“Most of the other colleges were over 3 percent,” he said.

Peter Rabideau, dean of LAS, said part of the reason the college received the lowest percentage cut is because the college teaches most of the students at Iowa State.

“Most students take at least one class that is taught by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences,” he said. “We also have the strongest research programs.”

Rabideau said the overall goal of the college is to get through the budget cuts and maintain the quality of education.

“One goal is to maintain faculty,” he said. “Tenure has been down the last 10 years. Stabilizing and raising tenure will be difficult because of the budget cuts.”

Rabideau said raising donations to cover the budget cuts also has been tough.

“It is very difficult to raise funds through alumni, because they want to give when progress is being made,” he said.

Because of the cuts, Rabideau said, certain courses weren’t offered, faculty numbers have been reduced and class sizes are on the rise.

“Departments have had reductions in their budget from 2 percent to 3.5 percent,” he said.