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PHOENIX — In a money- saving move, Arizona State University officials announced they plan to cut 200 or more faculty associates and dramatically boost the size of some classes. Some lecture-style classes could increase from 300 to 1,000 students.

The school is facing severe budget cuts, with ASU officials anticipating $25 million or more will be cut from the state budget. That's on top of the $30 million in cuts the university already has made because of a downward spiral in state revenues due to a sluggish economy.

Every administrative area and school have been asked to prepare additional cuts, said Virgil Renzulli, ASU's vice president of public affairs. The exact number of faculty cuts is unavailable because departments are still formulating plans.

Renzulli said it could be 200 or more and will involve faculty associates, who make up one of several categories of non-tenured positions.

ASU has 991 faculty associates, who often work part time. ASU did not have a breakdown on where the cuts would happen. Tenure and tenure-track faculty are not being cut, Renzulli said.

Renzulli emphasized that every campus is suffering. "Everybody feels terrible," he said. "This is not an ASU issue. This is not even an Arizona issue. This is a global issue. We are in tough economic times. This is not something we want to do."

Depending on majors, the cuts may mean larger class sizes, officials said.

Michael Slugocki, chairman of the statewide Arizona Students' Association, has concerns about how well students will be able to learn in a 1,000-seat lecture class.

The University of Arizona senior, a political-science major, said he once took a class with 500 students.

"There's no real connection between you and the professor because you feel like you're just a number," he said.

Arizona's three state universities get about $1.1 billion from the state, which accounts for about a quarter of their funding.

The rest of the cash is made up of tuition, room-and-board fees, federal grants, donations and other revenues.

ASU has faced the largest cuts because of its size. The university employs about 12,400 administrators, faculty and support staffers, and, with more than 67,000 students, it is one of the largest public universities in the country.