In the last year, cuts to programs have surfaced at colleges small and large, public and private.
Bradley University, mired in a financial crisis, announced in December that it would cut 15 programs and another five would no longer be offered as majors. At Baldwin Wallace University, two consecutive years of operating in the red pushed the institution to announce in January that it would cut or consolidate 13 programs. And financially struggling Fontbonne University said it would eliminate 21 programs three months before it ultimately announced, in March, its decision to shut down next year.
Public colleges are navigating similar headwinds. West Virginia University eliminated 28 degree programs last year — including many in the humanities — driving months of discussion in higher-ed circles about the future of public higher education. Other public institutions are poised to follow suit, among them St. Cloud State University, whose leaders last week recommended discontinuing roughly one-third of its 136 degree programs and more than half of its 85 minor programs to stem a structural budget deficit. As is common in the wake of such cuts, faculty members are slated to lose their jobs.
The recent incessant drip of program closures suggests an industry in contraction — and in some ways, that’s the case. But even if it’s true now, it’s taking place against a far larger backdrop of growth.
A Chronicle analysis of federal data from more than 2,000 four-year public, private, and for-profit colleges shows no evidence of a significant decline in bachelor’s-degree programs or completions over a 20-year period. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: Between 2002 and 2022, higher-education institutions expanded their number of programs by nearly 23,000, or 40 percent — a period during which undergraduate enrollment grew 8 percent. As enrollment levels off, the growth trajectory of programs may shift, which will become clear as new data become available.
However, the rate of program growth differs depending on the type of institution. A disproportionate share of the growth in bachelor’s-degree programs occurred at bachelor’s institutions, some of which were more likely to ramp up offerings in an effort to attract students and align with demand. The number of bachelor’s programs offered at community colleges also grew markedly — from about 30 in 2002 to more than 700 in 2022. However, that change represents only a fraction of program growth over all.
Focusing on Disciplines
A small number of disciplines, most of them career-focused, are driving higher ed’s program growth. For instance, colleges added nearly 2,700 health-professions and related clinical-sciences programs — think nursing, public health, radiologic technology, or physical therapy — between 2002 and 2022. That jump was the largest of 38 areas of study analyzed by The Chronicle. Visual and performing arts — which includes programs in design, drama and film, video, and photo — was a close second; more than 2,600 programs have surfaced in that area since 2002.
While the number of programs over all has proliferated, a closer look at individual disciplines points to diverging trajectories, especially when analyzed in the context of bachelor’s-degree completions.
Longtime Favorites
The number of programs in business, engineering, and health professions has trended steadily upward since 2002, and they’re popular with students as well.
Two Popular Fields
While they have both seen big increases in degrees awarded over the past two decades, the rate of growth in the number of computer-science programs has more than tripled that of psychology.
Foundational Disciplines in Decline
While the number of programs in English and history ticked up slightly over the two decades, completions in both areas plummeted after peaking a few years after the 2008 recession.
Programs Up, Degrees Down
Although the number of education programs increased by 27.1 percent, the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded in the field fell by 15.9 percent.
Even within a program area that is popular with students, certain fields are driving the growth. In biology, six programs saw the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded at least double between 2003 and 2022. One of them, neurobiology and neurosciences — which didn’t exist in federal data until 2010 — went from about 2,800 degrees awarded to more than 10,000.
Although the overall trajectory of bachelor’s programs across these more than 2,000 colleges was up between 2002 and 2022, the story at individual institutions varies. While some colleges have added programs, others have slashed their offerings over the years.
Methodology
Data are for bachelor’s-degree-granting institutions in the United States that were eligible to participate in Title IV federal financial-aid programs in 2002 and 2022. Only bachelor’s-degree programs are included. Program data is derived from completions data reported by institutions to the U.S. Department of Education. In some cases, institutions may not report the existence of a program in a year in which it does not have any completions, which may result in some variations in the data. A year corresponds with July 1 of the preceding year to June 30 of that year, so “2022" refers to July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022. Programs and sub-programs are derived from Classification of Instructional Programs codes, which can change over time. Where possible we have corrected for these changes.
