When she started studying at St. Cloud State University, Christina Westman dreamed of working as a music therapist with Parkinson’s disease and stroke patients.
However, her schooling was upended in May when administrators at the Minnesota college announced a plan to eliminate its music department as it slashes 42 degree programs and 50 minors.
It’s part of a wave of program cuts in recent months as U.S. colleges, large and small, try to make ends meet. Among their budget challenges: Federal COVID relief money is gone, operational costs are rising, and fewer high school graduates are going straight to college.
The cuts mean more than savings or even job losses. Often, they create turmoil for students who chose a campus because of certain degree programs and then write checks or sign up for student loans.
“For me, it’s been anxiety-ridden,” said Westman, 23, as she began the effort that ultimately led her to transfer to Augsburg University in Minneapolis. “It’s just the fear of the unknown.”
At St. Cloud State, most students will be able to finish their degrees before cuts kick in, but Westman’s music therapy major was a new one that hadn’t officially started. She has spent the past three months trying to find work in a new city and sublet her apartment in St. Cloud after signing a lease. She was moving into her new apartment on Friday.
For years, many colleges held off making cuts, said Larry Lee, who was acting president of St. Cloud State but left last month to lead Blackburn College in Illinois.
He said college enrollment declined during the pandemic, but officials hoped the figures would recover to pre-COVID levels. They had used federal relief money to prop up their budgets.
“They were holding on, holding on,” Lee said, noting colleges must now face their new reality.
National Student Clearinghouse Research Center data showed that higher education made up some ground last fall and in the spring semester.
But the trend for four-year colleges remains worrisome. Even without growing concerns about the cost of college and the long-term burden of student debt, the pool of young adults is shrinking.
Birth rates fell during the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009 and never recovered. Now, those smaller classes are preparing to graduate and head off to college.
“It’s very difficult math to overcome,” said Patrick Lane, vice president at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, a leading authority on student demographics.
The federal government’s chaotic overhaul of its financial aid application complicates the situation. Millions of students entered summer break still wondering where they were going to college this fall and how they would pay for it. With jobs still plentiful, although not as many as last year, some experts fear students won’t bother enrolling.
“This year going into next fall, it’s going to be bad,” said Katharine Meyer, a fellow in the Governance Studies program for the Brown Center on Education Policy at the nonprofit Brookings Institution. “Many colleges are concerned they won’t meet their enrollment targets.”
Many colleges, like St. Cloud State, had already started plowing through their budget reserves. The university’s enrollment rose to around 18,300 students in the fall of 2020 before steadily falling to about 10,000 in the fall of 2023.
Lee said St. Cloud State’s student population has stabilized, but spending was far too high for the reduced number of students. The college’s budget shortfall totaled $32 million over the past two years, forcing the sweeping cuts.
Some colleges have taken more extreme steps, closing their doors. That happened at the 1,000-student Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama, the 900-student Fontbonne University in Missouri, the 350-student Wells College in New York and the 220-student Goddard College in Vermont.
Cuts are more commonplace. Two of UNC System schools — UNC Greensboro and UNC Asheville — were given the green light last month to eliminate more than a dozen degree programs, ranging from ancient Mediterranean studies to physics. Three of the 64 colleges in the State University of New York system have cut programs amid low enrollment and budget woes.
Other schools slashing and phasing out programs include West Virginia University, Drake University in Iowa, the University of Nebraska campus in Kearney, North Dakota State University and, on the other side of the state, Dickinson State University.
Experts say it’s just the beginning. Even schools that aren’t immediately making cuts are reviewing their degree offerings. At Pennsylvania State University, officials are looking for duplicative and under-enrolled academic programs as the number of students shrinks at its branch campuses.
