The Widespread Fall of College Majors And Programs: What’s Getting Cut?

ABC News recently shared breaking news – majors and programs are being slashed at universities around the country at a surprising rate. What’s most in danger, and why are they being cut?

At St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, student Christina Westman along with many others have been greatly affected by the decision to cut the Music department, and the cut is just the beginning of a broader effort to eliminate 42 degree programs and 50 minors across St. Cloud.

Many other schools like West Virginia University, Drake University in Iowa, and the University of Nebraska campus in Kearney, have made significant cuts too, to name a few.

“For me, it’s really been anxiety-ridden,” says Westman, who has since transferred to Augsburg University.

FEDERAL AID MAXED OUT

Why the cuts? The reduction is widely driven by rising operational costs for schools coupled with declining college enrollment.

Federal relief was supporting colleges during the pandemic, but now that funding is running low, smaller programs and majors are in trouble. Also feeding into this issue is the low number of high school graduates (in part due to low birth rates during the Great Recession of 2007-2009).

Larry Lee, former president of St. Cloud State says in regard to colleges, “They were holding on, holding on.” Now, colleges need to come to terms with the new lower budget.

“This year going into next fall, it’s going to be bad,” says Katharine Meyer, a fellow in the Governance Studies program at the Brookings Institution.

CONCERNS WITH MEETING ENROLLMENT TARGETS

“I think a lot of colleges are really concerned they’re not going to make their enrollment targets,” says Meyer.

For comparison, St. Cloud’s enrollment in 2010 was 18,300 students in fall of 2010 – now they’re looking at just 10,000 incoming students this past fall of 2023.

Some of these cuts have led to total closures for some schools like the Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama and the century- old Fontbonne University in Missouri.

MOST HIGHLY IMPACTED MAJORS

Across the board, most impacted are those in the arts and humanities. Also being heavily affected are French, German, and American studies as well as women’s studies according to the New York Times.

On the flip side, the majors that are still thriving are those in healthcare, pharmaceutical, and business and management fields.

“It’s a humanitarian disaster for all of the faculty and staff involved, not to mention the students who want to pursue this stuff,” says Bryan Alexander, a Georgetown University senior scholar.

“We were just unable to really effectively teach music online, so there’s a gap…We’re just starting to come out of that gap and we’re just starting to rebound a little bit. And then the cuts are coming,” he adds.