YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Youngstown State University administration is planning to cut a popular graduate program due to declining enrollment.

YSU is planning to phase out the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts (NEOMFA) program after performing a study to analyze the cost-effectiveness of its different programs to determine what programs should be expanded, and what programs should be cut. 

Staff, students and alumni of the YSU community have vocalized their disappointment with the university's decision. Many believe that the importance of good writers shouldn't be overlooked, and that getting rid of the NEOMFA program would sever access to writers and literary resources. Many also believe that the area would lose some of its culture if the program were to be cut.  

"They write your grants, they write your programs, they write your books, they write your literature, they write everything. This program teaches them how to community leaders, they teach them how to write and how to teach. If this program is gone, those are all gone," says Cassandra Lawton, a graduate of the NEOFMA program. 

The SMARTS community  arts school program manager James Hain is also against the removal of the program. 

Hain moved to Youngstown from Maine specifically for the NEOFMA program, and credits his position at SMARTS to the NEOFMA program. 

"I don't think I'd be able to work here if it wasn't for having that background not just in the arts, but also education. Being able to know how to manage a classroom, being able to give feedback, that came from working in the MFA," says Hain.

21 News contacted YSU's spokesperson for comment, but has not heard back yet. 

Interested parties can sigh the online petition to save the MFA program at change.org, it already has more than 800 signatures.