Feb 19, 2010 9:33:46 AM

Moravian will discontinue its men's and women's lacrosse programs after this spring's season as one of several institution-wide actions to maintain a balanced budget while increasing student financial aid.

The reduction to 18 varsity sports and other actions at the college, including delaying hiring for new positions and eliminating or restructuring some existing staff positions, will enable Moravian to increase its financial aid budget by approximately 20 percent for 2010-11. The college announced it expects a slight increase in enrollment this fall and seeks to ensure a "proper balance" between tuition and financial aid for the incoming class.

The decisions are the result of a strategic review to prioritize and reduce expenses in existing programs at the 1,500-student institution. They follow implementation of a cost-savings plan during the current academic year to set aside additional funds for financial aid for last fall's new class. The college reported that the class included "an unprecedented percentage of historically under-represented and first-generation students."

"Today, we have acted upon the strategic review recommendations regarding program and personnel actions," Moravian President Christopher M. Thomforde said Wednesday. "While these types of actions are always difficult, they were made as part of our efforts to solidify our core academic and co-curricular programs."

Moravian's lacrosse programs are the newest of the school's 20 sports. This spring will be the seventh season of competition for women and sixth season for men in the sport.

"After undergoing a comprehensive process to assess and evaluate the athletics programs offered at Moravian, we have decided to discontinue lacrosse, rather than diminish the quality of all our athletics teams by administering across-the-board reductions," Thomforde said.

"This process looked closely at the vitality and overall quality of each athletics team in terms of history and tradition, competitive success, budget implications, and other criteria."

Moravian teams compete in the Landmark Conference, except for football, which competes in the Centennial Conference. Lacrosse currently is sponsored by seven Landmark Conference members for men and six members for women.

This season will be the three-year-old conference's first season of eligibility for automatic qualification to the Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship via Pool A. Last year, the conference advanced two women's teams and one men's team to Division III lacrosse tournaments through Pool B.

Moravian's decision to discontinue lacrosse came after discussions during the past few weeks with athletics administrators and coaches and with the school's student-athlete advisory committee, as well as an open forum with all student-athletes.

"By concentrating our focus on existing programs, we will continue to remain highly competitive and provide a quality experience for our student-athletes," Thomforde said.

He added that the institution-wide actions will enable the college to respond from "a healthy position" to current economic challenges facing higher education.

"We have made choices in a strategic manner to discover the right balance for the use of our resources to make a Moravian education accessible to all students, regardless of their background – but doing so requires us to control costs and shift resources to financial aid that benefits the large majority of students."