WSU president promises Peninsula's popular programs won't be budget casualties - Rob Ollikainen, Peninsula Daily News

Washington State University will keep its popular 4-H and Master Gardeners programs alive despite a severe budget crisis that forced the Pullman-based institution to raise tuition by 14 percent, the university president said Monday.Elson S. Floyd, on the first day of a rare visit to the North Olympic Peninsula for a WSU president, assured civic leaders that Extension offices like those in Port Angeles and Port Hadlock will not wind up on the chopping block.The university took a $54 million hit in the state Legislature's 2009-2011 budget. That's a 10.3 percent cut -- and 21 percent before federal stimulus dollars and a tuition hike were added.