Lindsborg ? A central Kansas college will cut faculty positions and eliminate its social work department in response to budget problems.

Edward Leonard III, president of Bethany College, says the reductions are expected to save the college in Lindsborg $300,000 a year.

The Hutchinson News reports that the social work program has fewer than 15 students.

Two professors in the social work department and a faculty member teaching political science and history will lose their jobs. And vacant faculty positions in music and criminal justice will not be filled.

Leonard says the reductions were necessary to keep the Evangelical Lutheran college economically viable. They will take effect at the beginning of the next academic year.