Associated Press - January 28, 2010 6:14 AM ET

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana's top higher education board is cutting 28 programs with low completion rates to save money.

The Louisiana Board of Regents approved the program changes Wednesday. The action includes consolidating eight programs into three, eliminating 14 degree programs and shutting down 14 technical programs. Most of the programs, according to the Regents, were identified last April as "low-completer" programs and given time to try to improve performance.

Education officials say students enrolled in the programs will be able to finish their degrees before the programs are scrapped.

The cuts include areas like an agricultural economics program at Southern University, the women's and gender studies program at LSU and a dental hygiene program at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Since January, 245 programs have been eliminated by the Board of Regents.

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