So basically, the university is closing some programs because the university did not want to hire faculty to teach in that program. “Faculty availability” implies that they have enough enrollment, but they have not hired enough faculty to teach courses in that program.
That being said, looking at the numbers, there are programs that should probably be consolidated, and there are undergraduate majors that have not had a single student graduate in the last 5 years.
Colleges close or consolidate majors all the time (they also start new majors as they address student/industry demand). It doesn’t necessarily mean the university is struggling financially. In many cases the major in question was a sub-specialty of a larger major that never attracted enough students. It typically IS a warning sign of financial distress (e.g., West Virginia) when core majors are eliminated or more than a few faculty are eliminated.
A current political trend is for legislators/governors to reduce “waste” at colleges by culling small enrollment programs. This has forced colleges to stop offering some low enrollment majors. However, in most cases this changes little because a major is a combination of different classes. Even if the major ceases to exist, the classes are still available.
It’s like a sandwich shop taking BLTs off their menu due to low demand. It doesn’t necessarily mean they will sell fewer sandwiches and they still have bacon, lettuce, tomato, bread and mayo in stock. If a customer demands it, the shop can still make a custom BLT for them using available ingredients (independent study).
A school like WVU has state funding. So it’s far different than a private that has closed or one like Clark, well respected, yet taking an axe to the budget which often times will be a precipice for a serious decline, although their hope is that it stabilizes things. WVU will likely always be a force even if it fine tunes.
Typically organizations that try to save their way to prosperity stumble. Not always but often.
Depending on funding.
Public institutions are designed to function at a loss, if you take away state funding.
And even for the ones who have figured out ways to leverage federal grants to fill in the gap from reduced state funding, well, →dfbdfb gestures around←.
So no, there is precisely no guarantee, or even a solid likelihood, that a public institution will continue to be a force as it “fine tunes” (which I scare-quoted because it’s an interesting euphemism for what I would phrase more like “takes a sledgehammer to its academic offerings”).
That makes me sad. They are a nice supportive school. Oldest daughter has friends that went there graduating in 2024 so not long ago.
Middlebury College will close what used to be Monterey Institute of International Studies which they acquired in 2005.
Unlike many previous news, that’s actually a reasonable development.
There’s a small college ranking they were just left out of - and some thought it was because of that campus.
The coincidence timing wise is striking.
I’m glad they are allowing all to finish.
Reading the article shows that even a wealthy Middlebury has its financial issues (main campus too).
About the Institute | Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey indicates that 43% of the students at Middlebury’s Monterey campus are international students.
And 90% of them have either had difficulty with their visas, or decide not to bother. I heard from a colleague overseas that the waiting time for an appointment for a visa interview has become insane- and that if you don’t get a rubber-stamped “yes”, it can be another several weeks for your second meeting with the “correct” documentation. So any institute or program with a hefty number of students from overseas…. definitely a different environment right now.
Last week, there was an article indicating that 150,000 international students are “missing" - either decided to enroll elsewhere or couldn’t get a visa interview.
Yet another part of the brain drain… and to think some folks are cheering this because “it’s good for America to only have Americans taking advantage of our educational system”.
Empty seats. Laid off faculty. Ghost labs with years and years of work down the drain. Patents which will never be filed/inventions which eventually will be created in the student’s home country instead of ours. Income streams from licensing which will go to the universities overseas which are welcoming these students with open arms.
My niece had to get a visa for her study abroad in France because she’d be there more than 90 days (just one semester). It was very hard to get an appointment and she had to fly to Los Angeles in July (the closest embassy to Denver) before she was to go in August. She had to go to the embassy, alone, at an exact time. Sure, she was 20 years old but it was very stressful for her.
We act as if this study abroad is all glamorous. Yet it’s not always easy.
Yes, of course. It’s the normal process to get a student visa. You apply, your academics and request are reviewed, then there’s an appointment and an interview. Because there are few embassies in any country students have to travel far for that; the interview can be stressful or annoying, sometimes the officer isn’t very nice.
BTW it’s the same at American embassies, you have to go in, alone, without any electronic devices, drinks, or food, and you have to wait till they call you.
But it’s *totally* different from what we’re talking about here. She could be told there are no interview slots for candidates of her nationality or in that country. Or there are, then there aren’t, then there is one, then there aren’t any. Or she’s asked to come, then once there asked to return another day, unspecified. Or she has her interview and the officer starts saying derogatory things about her choice of studies, the college she’s going to, or anything they please. Or she has her interview, it goes well, and has no news for three months. Or she hears but after the start of school and she’s told to return to the far away embassy because of some unspecified problem. A deliberate process to slow down (or, for some countries, officially stop) the delivery of student visas, officially started in May this year.
Actually the POINT of “real” (*. ) study abroad is that it’s NOT easy. Managing a semester abroad teaches many things that can’t be fathomed before you face then, analyze then, and solve then. It’s supposed to de-center you and make you see everything in a new light, or through a new angle, or at least make you *see* something you were taking for granted. {Weird formating I can’t change, sorry, it’s not supposed to be italics}
(* Vs. A 10-day program where you’re visiting places you’ve studied in class but are always with American students, every problem has been pre solved, and a professor helps you navigate everything. The 10-day program is mind-opening or world-broadening, it may make your class more real, etc., but it doesn’t work the same as a semester abroad even if you have American classmates and help from a professor there.)
This has been in the works for some time, so I’m sure the timing is coincidental. It was also clarified that the bulk of the extra FTE was summer language school students.
Announced this week: Elon University will take over Queens University of Charlotte in stages over the next four years.
Queens has been facing moderate to severe enrollment and financial pressures lately. Elon opened a satellite campus in Charlotte a couple years ago, and this gives it a straightforward way to expand its presence there. This one has the opportunity to be a win-win, especially since they’re giving themselves time to get it right rather than having to rush things.
There is already a thread about this in the “college headlines” forum