College majors are disappearing as academia tightens its belt
Joanna Hennigan was devastated when she learned her Boston University satellite program on Cape Cod was ending.
She'd spent years saving up for the master's social work program — the only in-person degree she could find near her Cape home — because she was motivated to become a therapist. It felt especially personal to her because of her experience of postpartum isolation and mental health challenges.
But with fewer than 50 students enrolled in its Cape Cod, Bedford and Fall River programs, and fewer signing up each year, Boston University felt it was a financial necessity to end the in-person programs.
Financial challenges, political pressure and dwindling enrollment have compelled schools across the country, including several in Massachusetts, to make similar painful decisions to end degree programs, with real consequences for people like Hennigan.
"The impact is substantial because we have a huge need for more professionals in this field on Cape Cod. There is a real deficit — a huge need and not enough workers," Hennigan said.
Over the past year, Clark University in Worcester eliminated its French and francophone studies, comparative literature, ancient civilization and studio art majors; Berklee College of Music in Boston ended its contemporary theater degree; and Lesley University in Cambridge announced cuts in sociology, political science, global studies and a graduate program in photography with talks of stopping enrollment for its creative writing master's program.
Outside of the state, other institutions like Utica University in New York and Rhode Island College have also made cuts to their programming.
It comes at a time when states created laws that eliminate degrees with low graduation or enrollment rates, including in Indiana, Ohio and Utah, according to Inside Higher Ed . Texas also has a law regulating degrees and certificates, which was signed into law in June, leading to Texas A&M University cutting 14 minors and 38 certificate programs that were "low producing," according to the Texas Tribune.
Why now?
Even before the Trump administration took office, instituting several attacks on higher education , colleges and universities were looking for ways to cut costs, said Lynn Pasquerella, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and a former president at Mount Holyoke College.
Higher education is facing multiple challenges: skepticism about a college degree, a smaller number of traditionally college-aged students , rising costs to obtain a degree and less of an emphasis on college as a requirement for employment, she said.
Lynn Pasquerella is the president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and a former president at Mount Holyoke College.Pierce Kuchle
At the same time, higher education has been under intense scrutiny from the federal government under the Trump administration, leading to the revocation of student visas en masse and going after Harvard University's federal funding and international students .
Research funding and diversity, equity and inclusion programming have also been in peril.
"There's a sense of urgency as we're seeing the weaponization of federal funds. Campuses are having to make up for lost revenue as a result of grants, donations that have also been weaponized, and they're having to do more with less," Pasquerella said.
She expects the reduction in majors, especially those in the humanities, to continue, especially after the passage of Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill."
The bill institutes an accountability mechanism for degree programs based on graduates' future earnings to be eligible for federal student loans, Pasquerella said.
That could hit the humanities in particular, where humanities graduates who work full-time earned less than the median annual earnings for all college graduates in 2021 — $64,000 compared to $72,000, according to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . These graduates still earned much more than those without a college education, who made $41,000 annually.
Fewer people have been majoring in the humanities over the past decade. There was a 24% drop in the number of humanities bachelor's degrees awarded between 2012 and 2022, according to analysis from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Meanwhile, other fields like health and medical sciences, engineering and the natural sciences experienced growth during the same time period.
Mary Churchill is the associate dean of strategic initiatives & community engagement Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development.Rick Friedman
Whenever there is economic instability, a rush of degree program cancellations occurs, according to Mary Churchill, associate dean of strategic initiatives & community engagement at Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development.
And this is a point of instability right now, she said.
"This time is unique because of the high degree of uncertainty. Usually when you have economic downturn, something's happening in the world economy that you didn't necessarily — you as a country — didn't necessarily cause. But right now, we as a country are causing the instability," she said.
Institutions, as a result, are trying to find ways to "weather this storm into the future," she said.
"There's just so much happening," Churchill said. "I think that in the beginning, it felt like a singular attack on equity, diversity, and inclusion programs. It doesn't feel that way anymore. It feels like one of many points of attack."
What colleges are saying
As they've cut majors, some colleges have provided explanations for their plans going forward.
In June, Clark announced a new strategic plan for adapting to higher education's changing competitive landscape and building institutional strength for the long term.
The university said it is leaning into "current strengths" by refocusing its curriculum and academic departments around three key areas "most relevant to meeting the needs of a changing world": Climate, Environment & Society; Media Arts, Computing & Design; and Health & Human Behavior.
Boston Conservatory at Berklee, in announcing its phasing out of its contemporary theater bachelor of fine arts program, said that fewer than 0.5% of its students were enrolled in the program.
Both colleges said that students currently enrolled in those programs would be able to finish their studies in their chosen majors.
An anti-DEI emphasis?
Luis Alvarez-Hernandez, an assistant professor of social work at Boston University, said he has seen an increase in cancellations since the beginning of the year, particularly for programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion or those that study marginalized groups.
That includes classes on women's studies or LGBTQIA+ studies, Latin American studies or Black and Indigenous studies, he said.
"I think some institutions might be preemptively just trying to not be in the spotlight," Alvarez-Hernandez said.
While he hasn't seen that to be the case as much in Massachusetts, he has been hearing about it from colleagues, especially in the South.
"Some courses or whole programs in these areas have been eliminated, which is very problematic. Because it's more than just theory or ideology," Alvarez-Hernandez said.
"I think that when we understand what's happening with groups — like LGBT groups or women, Black and Indigenous communities, Latin American communities — when we understand their experiences, we can address their challenges," he said.
What are the impacts of the cuts?
Leonore Fleming is a professor of philosophy at Utica University.Courtesy Photo
At Utica University in New York, possible cuts to degree programs and certificates are only a symptom of a larger financial problem that has been brewing.
On top of potential cuts, the university sent notices this week to 23 academic departments, notifying them that 31 full-time faculty and librarians could be laid off.
The university had already been dealing with enrollment difficulties and operating at a $30 million cash operating deficit from 2022 to 2024, leading to nine layoffs, all employees taking pay cuts and freezes on employer contributions last year.
Leonore Fleming, a professor of philosophy at Utica University, said Utica used to pride itself on having a liberal arts foundation and offering pre-professional programs, but now the liberal arts courses feel like they are being gutted and professors have been leaving, she said.
"It feels very much like it is undermining our university mission, our university history, our university spirit," Fleming said.
The recommended list of degree programs to end included Africana studies and history and minors in anthropology, geoscience, gender studies, sociology, Spanish and writing. The deletion process won't occur until May, according to the institution.
There are 20 majors that represent nearly 95% of the student body, including nursing, health sciences, cybersecurity, business management, health and physical education and criminal justice, according to a presentation from Todd Pfannestiel, president of Utica.
Similar cuts to humanities courses of study were made a few years before the College of Saint Rose closed in New York last year, Fleming said.
"It seemed like that really accelerated their closure because they got rid of some things that really made them distinct ... I worry about the university. I worry about how this damages our reputation," she said.
Churchill, from Boston University, worries that all universities could cut the same programs due to enrollment issues.
As a result, some fields of study could be difficult to teach to future generations, she said.
"You're cutting a body of knowledge. And so for me, the highest cost is that the topics won't be taught and future generations won't learn about those topics," she said.
"So often, the underperforming small majors are the same on all of our campuses. And if we could find ways to collaborate across campuses, we may have larger numbers for a major that didn't just sit as a single campus," she said.
Forging ahead
Hennigan, a student at Boston University's social work master's program, organized a petition in response to the closure announcement, gaining nearly 800 signatures . In the petition, she calls for BU to "reconsider" or extend the satellite programs until the cohorts can complete their studies, until 2027.
"I think that we should be given the education that was offered to us. And to be told that we are in their bottom 5% of their budget and that they're cutting our program because we don't make them money feels very incongruous with the mission of providing, or especially my personal desire to provide human resources regardless of financial gain," she said.
A Boston University spokesperson said the institution is teaching out the programs and has made "reasonable effort" to work with continuing students, but that it wasn't "self-sustaining."
The university students can continue online, in-person in Boston or through the hybrid program in Worcester, which is "thriving with more than 900 students enrolled," a university spokesperson said.
As a result of Hennigan's advocacy, the institution offered a potential option where, if there is enough interest, the cohorts at the three locations could be kept together and learn online instead of participating in a larger online model offered by the institution, Hennigan said.
With two semesters left, she wants to continue in person to become a therapist to "serve my local community," she said.
"I think it's an injustice for them to take that away from us, especially at our final two semesters, where arguably it's the most important classes of advanced clinical classes where we're learning, hopefully the most important and being prepared for a career of effective service in our community," she said.
More Higher Ed
Read the original article on MassLive . Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
