Caught in a budget squeeze, Haskell Indian Nations University announced Tuesday it would limit fall enrollment to between 900 and 1,000 students.

Last year, Haskell started fall classes with 1,029 students.

Haskell officials recently learned the university’s upcoming budget would be $132,000 less than this year’s.

“This year, we’re getting about $9.33 million; next year, we’ll be getting $9.2 million,” said Marvin Buzzard, Haskell’s vice president in charge of university services. “At the same time, we’re looking at a $300,000-to-$400,000 increase in our fixed costs things like cost-of-living increases, step-pay increases and health insurance premiums. So we’re in a situation where things don’t add up.”

Haskell’s budget is funded by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and federal grants.

In the past, Buzzard said, Haskell had taken steps to prevent enrollment from outstripping the budget. But it was rarely a problem, he said, because enough students either didn’t arrive or left school early.

This year is different, he said, because record numbers of students were returning and officials expected more than the usual number of new students to show up.

“Every year there’s a number that we knew we can handle, and we’ve always been able to get there without too much trouble. There wasn’t much to worry about,” Buzzard said. “But this year, there’s a lot to worry about because we can’t go over that 900-to-1,000 number. We’re having to turn students away.”

Historically, Haskell has enrolled 20-22 percent more students than it could actually accommodate because about 20 percent of the student body either didn’t arrive or dropped out.

“Last year, we accepted 1,256 students and ended up with 1,029,” said Ellen Allen, Haskell’s director of admissions and records. “This year, we’ve accepted 1,150. I think we’ll end up with 900 to 950.”

Allen said Haskell’s fall-enrollment slots were filled in June, and its spring semester could be filled as early as September.

“We’re no longer scraping for students,” she said. “We’ve got more than enough.”

Allen attributed the enrollment increase to “the economy, the switch to four-year curriculum and I don’t know what else. But it’s definitely changing.”

Earlier this year, Haskell announced that budget shortfalls had forced cancellation of summer school.

Buzzard said the university was working on a plan to reinstate summer school in 2003.

“It may not be the summer school folks are used to,” he said. “It may be a stripped-down version, but we’re doing everything we can to bring it back. There’s nothing definite yet, but we’re sure going to try.”