Editor’s note: This story is part of a series examining different colleges at NIU and how they are affected by budget cuts.

Students in NIU’s College of Engineering and Engineering Technology don’t have as many electives to choose from for the fall semester.

Mansour Tahernezhadi, associate dean of the CEET, said offering required classes for graduation is the college’s top priority because of budget cuts.

“We haven’t had any major classes cut. In engineering, we’ve been pretty steady, mostly because classes need to be offered every semester for students to graduate,” Tahernezhadi said.

He said the CEET often makes space in classes seniors need for graduation, even if the class is full.

“Typically, if there’s a lab component to the class, we can accommodate the excess,” he said.

Class cuts have been relatively small, but Tahernezhadi said budget cuts are an ongoing concern in other aspects of the college.

“We’re trying to do more with less,” Tahernezhadi said. “We have not been able to hire as many new faculty as we’d like, and we’re not expanding our research as much as we’d like.”

Shin-Min Song, chair of the department of mechanical engineering, agreed.

Many mechanical engineering elective courses now are offered only once every three semesters. Some have been postponed until the budget situation improves.

Song said his main concerns are not on the classes.

“We cannot upgrade or purchase new equipment, which causes crowded labs. Our travel budget has been cut so much it’s almost nonexistent.”

The travel budget is used to send professors to conferences and other professional activities.