Posted on 06/13/2024 5:29:32 PM PDT by george76
St. Cloud State University finalizes plan to cut back on degrees, minors amidst budget problems
Nearly one in three degree programs at St. Cloud State University will get the ax, due to budgetary problems.
Roughly 60 percent of minors are also getting the boot at the public university, according to a recent announcement.
“In a presentation to the campus community on Tuesday, SCSU Acting President Larry Lee confirmed the university will suspend 42 degree programs and 50 minor programs,” KARE 11 reported yesterday.
The news outlet reported that other cuts were made last year as well.
“The reductions will leave SCSU with a total academic portfolio of 94 degree programs (62 bachelor’s degrees, 29 master’s degrees, and three doctoral degrees) and 35 minor programs,” the news outlet reported. “According to the university, 92% of current students are enrolled in one of the 94 remaining academic programs.”
The school is also cutting faculty, staff, and administrative programs.
The cuts include ending minors in “Ethnic Studies,” “Chicano Studies,” and “Asian-Pacific American Studies.”
Music, hospitality, Spanish, and sociology undergraduate degrees will also be eliminated, according to KARE 11.
St. Cloud State “experienced an $18 million net operating loss in fiscal year 2023, and is expected to lose $15 million in 2024,” KARE 11 previously reported in May.
“The higher education landscape is facing unprecedented struggles – student enrollment declines, affordability concerns, a proliferation of higher education alternatives, public perception of college degrees, and financial strains…among others,” Lee told the university community in May. “These circumstances negatively impact higher education, generally, and St. Cloud State University, specifically.”
Enrollment at the university actually increased this year. However, the university enrolled 8,000 fewer students than it did in 2010. Its enrollment has generally decreased each year, the Star Tribune reported in October 2023.
Other universities have cut or are considering ending various degree programs due to enrollment and budget issues in the past several years.
UNC Greensboro announced plans in early 2024 to end twenty academic programs, The College Fix previously reported.
Henderson State University in Arkansas announced plans in 2022 to end 25 degree programs and fire 67 professors, The Fix previously reported.
West Virginia University is also exploring cuts to academic programs and faculty jobs due to budget issues, The Fix reported.
Meanwhile, a recent report found more than half of recent college grads work in jobs that do not require a degree.
They better cut some STEM degrees, or they’ll be riots because STEM is racist. Twenty years ago, that would be sarcasm. Now, not so much.
I’ll bet they’re adding a “jihad studies” department...
I was in St. Cloud for my brother-in-law’s wedding some years ago (2007). There were a ton of students outside protesting the Iraq War. I rolled down my window and hollered “GET A HAIRCUT AND GET A JOB, YA GODDA*MN HIPPIES!”
My wife was pissed! And that’s one of the many reasons why she’s my ex-wife.
CC
The college scam is collapsing.
“The cuts include ending minors in ‘Ethnic Studies,’ ‘Chicano Studies,’ and ‘Asian-Pacific American Studies.’”
Forget it, Jake. It’s Minnesota. They’ll be replacing them with Mooslimb Studies, no doubt.
:( How the F can The Heartland be so messed up? The land of Ole and Lena! It’s a cryin’ SHAME, it is!
Full list:
Degree programs:
Biological Sciences, MA
Child & Family Studies: Family Studies, MS
Criminal Justice Studies, BS
Criminal Justice Studies, MS (program admissions currently frozen)
Cultural Resource Management, MS
Early Childhood Special Education, MS (program admissions currently frozen)
Earth Sciences, BA
Economics, BA
Educational Administration & Leadership, SPEC
Educational Leadership and Technology, MS
Electrical Engineering, MSEE
English Education, MS
English Studies, MA
Entrepreneurship, BS
Environmental Engineering, BS
Environmental Science, BS
Environmental Studies, BS
Gender and Women’s Studies, BA
Geography, BA
Geography: GIS, MS
Gerontology, MS
Global Studies, BA
Health & Physical Education, BS
History, MA
History, MS (program admissions currently frozen)
Hospitality and Tourism, BA
Hydrology, BS
Manufacturing Engineering, BS
Music Performance, BMUS (program admissions currently frozen)
Music Teaching, BS (K-12)
Music Therapy, BS (not launched)
Music, BA
Nuclear Medicine Technology, BS (program admissions currently frozen)
Physical Education, BS
Physics Education Grades 9-12, BS
Physics, BS
Physics/General Science Ed Gr 5-12, BS
Public Administration, MPA
Rehabilitation Counseling, MS
Sociology, BA
Spanish, BS
Writing Studies and Rhetoric, MA (program admissions currently frozen)
Minors:
African American Studies, Minor
American Indian Studies, Minor
Applied Analytics, Minor
Applied Behavior Analysis, Minor
Applied Mathematics, Minor
Arts-Entrepreneurship, Minor
Asian-Pacific American Studies, Minor
Athletic Coaching, Minor
Career/Technical Ed: Communication, Minor
Career/Technical Ed: Construction, Minor
Career/Technical Ed: Manufacturing, Minor
Career/Technical Ed: Transportation, Minor
Chicano Studies, Minor
Conflict Management, Minor (program admissions currently frozen)
Creative Writing, Minor
Criminal Justice Studies, Minor
Early Childhood Education, Minor
Economics, Minor
English Studies, Minor
Entrepreneurship for Business Majors, Minor
Entrepreneurship for Non-Business Majors, Minor
Environmental Studies, Minor
E-sports Broadcasting. Minor
E-sports Management for Business Majors, Minor
E-sports Management for Non-Business, Minor
Ethnic Studies, Minor
Film Production, Minor (program admissions currently frozen)
Forensic Science, Minor
Gender & Women Studies, Minor
Geography, Minor
German, Minor
Gerontology for Nurses, Minor
Gerontology, Minor
GIS, Minor
Heritage Preservation (CMTY), Minor
Hospitality & Tourism, Minor
Human Relations, Minor
Hydrology, Minor
Intercultural Communication, Minor
Linguistics, Minor
Mathematics, Minor
Middle School Mathematics, Minor
Music, minor
New Media - Music and Art, Minor
Optics, Minor
Real Estate for Business Majors, Minor
Real Estate for Non-Business Majors, Minor
Sociology, Minor
STEM Education, Minor
Teaching English as a Second Language, Minor
Whoa! The 2025 Reckoning is already beginning! Trump2024!
“The school is also cutting faculty, staff, and administrative programs.
The cuts include ending minors in “Ethnic Studies,” “Chicano Studies,” and “Asian-Pacific American Studies.”
Music, hospitality, Spanish, and sociology undergraduate degrees will also be eliminated, according to KARE 11.”
Smart!
I count at least six minors to cut.
“The cuts include ending minors in “Ethnic Studies,” “Chicano Studies,” and “Asian-Pacific American Studies.”
It’ll hit the fan now.
My sympathies to the people who have to change direction in life. The world is changing. We all have to deal with it.
The ONLY reason the college scam could exist is the federal government stepped in to make college “affordable.” Before Uncle Sugar provided loans, colleges had to offer degrees that real-world employers wanted and graduates they needed. Then the Fed Gov fouled it all up by making money available which allowed colleges and universities to raise rates far beyond inflation for decades...which necessitated even greater amounts of federal largesse.
So millions of people got useless degrees that nobody will hire and Uncle Sugar AGAIN stepped in to pay off those useless degrees with “debt forgiveness,” i.e., make all of us who did not take out loans pay off those useless people with useless degrees.
It is great to see St. Cloud cutting out the crap.
Should Trump endorse the coup de gras for the following fall at his inauguration speech next Jan?
Is that what they’re keeping and offering or what they’re eliminating?
“the coup de gras”
* Ending all federal loans for education?
* Abolishing the Department of Ed?
* Stopping the abuse of Title 9 destroying women’s sports and putting men in girl’s restrooms?
* All of the above?
Fixed it.
Are the cutting out the DEI staff? If not, they are not serious.
I’m guessing the alumni donations have spoken.
*“the coup de gras”* All of the above?*
No. On January 20 he tells all the nations’ high school seniors to rethink spending 4 years going to college. When September comes around they just may be doing something else.
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