Penn State Might Cut 49 Majors in Cost-Cutting Effort
“Nine of the impacted programs currently enroll no students and 11 have already submitted formal teach-out proposals, enrollment holds or both.”
They have already closed more than half a dozen campuses. Sounds serious.
The College Fix reports:
Penn State may cut 49 majors after closing 7 campuses
Penn State University may slash 49 of its undergraduate majors this fall, a recommendation announced this week as part of on-going cost cutting assessments at the public institution.
The proposed cuts would phase out low enrollment majors, affecting about 900 students, WJAC reports.
“Higher education is changing, and we must rise to the occasion,” Provost Fotis Sotiropoulos told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a statement.
“A full accounting of our academic offerings, and a commitment to an ongoing cycle of program reviews moving forward, are critical parts of the work we all must do to position our students, and Penn State, for long-term success,” Sotiropoulos said.
Programs that could be cut include education, liberal arts, science and technology, and earth and mineral sciences majors, according to the report:
Nine of the impacted programs currently enroll no students and 11 have already submitted formal teach-out proposals, enrollment holds or both. Twenty-six would continue to be offered but through another college. …
They would be cut for various reasons, including low student demand, combined employment opportunity and realignment. Demographic changes, enrollment declines, stagnant state funding and rising costs all played a role in the preliminary recommendation, Mr. Sotiropoulos said.
It isn’t clear how much money the university would save by ending these programs. Penn State is currently operating under a $9.9 billion budget.
“Higher education is in a complex environment, and we are not immune to the numerous challenges of the moment,” Mr. Sotiropoulos said.
Now through mid-May, university leaders are asking for feedback on the proposal from the community, students, and faculty, according to a page on the provost’s website.
Trustees at the university have faced criticism for their fiscal decisions in recent years, among them are votes last year to close seven campuses and give the president a nearly 50 percent raise, The College Fix reported in October.
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Comments
Good! Cut earth science and give that grifter Michael Mann the old heavy ho.
I hear the distinct sound of resume shuffling in those adjunct lecturers’ cubbyholes.
Everything at Penn State revolves around football. Beaver Stadium is in the middle of a $700 million renovation. Ticket and parking prices are increasing dramatically. And if undergraduate students don’t mind sharing the lecture hall with 1,000 of their closest peers, they might have a chance of hearing the Teaching Assistant’s lecture.
Otherwise, it’s all about WE ARE…
I can see them easily cutting that many programs, particularly if there is zero demand or enrollment in/for them. Most of the garbage programs that other colleges/universities are eliminating are also being used a good reason to cut down on administrative overhead if those institutions are smart (problem is most of them are not!). The medical school where I am back on clinical faculty (now that Texas can no longer impose DEI garbage on us) just rid itself of two layers of Directors and Assistant Deans. They could easily cut another two layers and nobody would miss that dead weight.
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