Faced with the daunting task of cutting 54 million dollars from the biennium budget, Washington State University officials chose not to make sweeping cuts across the board, instead going for the option of cutting out some programs entirely. Theatre and dance, rural sociology, the German major, and sport management will no longer be offered as options for incoming freshmen.
So how will the Athletics Department be affected by the budget shortfall? $350,000 will be dropped, which is a little more than 1% of the department's annual operating costs. That is the equivalent of about 10 full-ride scholarships over the two year period of time. To make up for the loss, Beasley Coliseum will become self-supported and not receive any help from state funding.
Overall, it could have been worse. The overall WSU budget was slashed 10.8%, while the athletics budget will actually suffer a less than 1% hit (when spreading the $350,000 cut over the two years the budget covers). Athletics were spared for the most part because they do not receive any direct assistance from the state. The help they get comes from tuition waivers provided by the university.
As for sport management and the other programs cut, there is one silver lining. The students who are currently in the major will get to finish their program. Only incoming students will not be able to work towards a degree in one of those fields. As pointed out by MLips in the comments, only students who have certified in their major will be able to complete the program, leaving most of the underclassmen out in the cold.