More Job, Program Cuts in March

The need to tighten purse strings and enrollment issues drove plans in March to cut hundreds of jobs and programs.

Amid a confluence of challenges that include state and federal funding concerns, universities are also reviewing or cutting programs that have low enrollment. Several states have passed laws in recent years requiring colleges to slash programs that don’t meet certain enrollment thresholds.

Here’s a look at campus job and program cuts announced or enacted last month.

The New School

Grappling with a projected $48 million budget deficit, the private university in New York City plans to cut up to 15 percent of its workforce by June through a mix of buyouts and layoffs.

While the New School has not specified the exact number of employees it plans to cut, it had 3,126 employees in fall 2024, according to the latest federal data. If staffing numbers have remained roughly level since then, that would mean more than 450 jobs could be cut.

(Officials told Inside Higher Ed they do not yet have exact numbers.)

The New School has already extended voluntary separation or early retirement packages to 169 academics, or 40 percent of full-time faculty members, Gothamist reported in December. The New School has reportedly reduced its workforce by 7 percent via those buyouts.

Portland State University

Dozens of jobs and multiple programs could be axed at the public university as administrators seek to address a projected budget deficit of $45 million, Oregon Public Media reported.

Portland State may cut employees in 19 departments as part of a retrenchment process. The American Association of University Professors estimated that as many as 216 employees may be laid off.

Campus officials, however, disputed that number in an email to Inside Higher Ed.

“We are engaged in a process to reduce or eliminate departments that is required as part of the university’s collective bargaining agreement with PSU-AAUP,” spokesperson Katy Swordfisk wrote in a statement. “As part of that process, we are currently in a comment period and no decisions regarding layoffs have been made. The 216 layoffs cited by AAUP is inaccurate.”

Rutgers University

The public university told 38 adjunct faculty members last month that they would not be reappointed, NJ.com reported.

Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union officials told the news outlet that the adjuncts who were not reappointed collectively teach about 100 classes. Losing could have a ripple effect across campus and require either full-time faculty to step in or the classes would need to be cut, the union argued.

The University of Maine

The Pine Tree State flagship plans to lay off a small number of staff members as the public university faces a projected $18 million budget shortfall, The Bangor Daily News reported.

Fewer than 10 staff members are expected to be laid off as part of budget cuts. University officials have also said they plan to leave some vacancies unfilled to further reduce costs.

At the same time, program cuts are looming. Last month, the UM Faculty Senate voted to eliminate a master’s degree in teaching Spanish and suspend an undergraduate medical laboratory sciences major. The system’s Board of Trustees still needs to finalize the cuts.

Syracuse University

The private university is jettisoning 84 academic programs and pausing enrollment in nine others, The New York Times reported.

The cut programs include classics and multiple undergraduate language majors, among dozens of others. Many of the affected programs reportedly had no students enrolled in those majors.

Cuts hit about 20 percent of the programs offered, a move that officials said was intended to make Syracuse “more focused, more distinctive and more aligned with student demand.”

University of North Texas

Staring down a projected budget shortfall of $45 million, officials at the public university announced plans last month to close or consolidate more than 70 academic programs.

Affected programs include a mix of graduate and undergraduate offerings.

Academic offerings on the chopping block include women’s and gender studies, which have become a target for conservatives and been cut or consolidated at other institutions in the Lone Star State, including Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin.

But administrators told The Texas Tribune last month that state officials had not directed them to cut any programs and that revisions to the university’s academic portfolio were driven by a reduction in state funding and a significant decline in international student enrollment numbers.

UNT did not specify how many faculty may lose their jobs as a result of the program cuts.

Ohio University

Following a state review, the public university is dropping 16 underenrolled programs.

Altogether, 36 programs were flagged as part of the review. Of those, the university announced last month that 16 will be cut and another 16 will be combined; officials will seek a waiver to continue offering four others. Academic programs to be axed include an African American studies major and several associate degree. Ohio is also eliminating multiple bachelor of arts programs, such as chemistry, while keeping a similar bachelor of science.

Officials have not specified how such cuts will affect the workforce.

Tarrant County College

Trustees at the Texas community college dropped 10 programs last month.

Those programs, according to Fort Worth Report, include a mix of career and technical education offerings. While the news outlet noted the college has faced some budget challenges, the cuts were largely shaped by low program enrollment or issues with credits not transferring to four-year colleges. No full-time faculty members are expected to be laid off due to the cuts.

Princeton University

One of the nation’s wealthiest universities laid off nine employees last month.

Princeton laid off the entire staff of the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education in late March amid other cost-cutting moves that include restrictions on staff raises, NJ.com reported.

Princeton president Christopher Eisgruber previously told the campus community that the university needs “to pursue our mission more efficiently, including through thoughtful decisions about when to eliminate or reduce existing programs.”

Although Princeton has a $36.4 billion endowment, it has seen returns shrink in recent years.

College of Saint Scholastica

The private Catholic college in Minnesota made cuts to faculty ranks last month, FOX 21 reported. While sources told the TV station up to a dozen cuts were made, the college has not released an official number and cast the faculty layoffs as “necessary budget adjustments.”

Last month’s layoffs at Saint Scholastica included a popular philosophy professor; in response, students held a sit-in to protest the decision.

Boise State University

Two deans are out amid a restructuring effort at Boise State, Idaho EdNews reported.

Under the restructuring plan unveiled in March, Boise State will merge the College of Education and the School of Public Service and shut down the College of Innovation and Design. Although two administrators were axed, officials have said that staff and faculty jobs should be safe.

“We think that there’s going to be plenty to do, and our goal is to be sure that our people serving these staff roles find a place. And in terms of faculty, we don’t anticipate any academic changes,” Boise State interim president Jeremiah Shinn told the news outlet last month.