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Dispatches from public radio's correspondent at the Washington Legislature. Austin Jenkins is the Olympia correspondent for the Northwest News Network. You can also see Austin on television as host of TVW's (the C–SPAN of Washington State) weekly public affairs program "Inside Olympia."

WSU Delays Academic Programs In Everett

Washington State University

Washington State University has scrapped plans to expand its academic offerings at a satellite college center in Everett. It blames budget uncertainty in the Washington State legislature.

Colleen Kerr is the lead spokeswoman on the project for WSU. She says the university made the announcement Thursday because it can’t pull together the additional degree offerings planned to begin in August if funding isn’t secure.

“And so students that would otherwise be able to head into a four-year program in Everett will have to wait another year, at least in those programs will have to wait another year until that opportunity avails itself.”

Kerr says she worries that the project at the University Center of North Puget Sound might lose momentum altogether, even though community support for the partnership with WSU has been strong.

WSU was planning to offer undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering, hospitality business management and communications.

Anna King calls Richland, Washington home and loves unearthing great stories about people in the Northwest. She reports for the Northwest News Network from a studio at Washington State University, Tri-Cities. She covers the Mid-Columbia region, from nuclear reactors to Mexican rodeos.