Dive Brief:
- Iowa State University leaders are looking to shut down 10 degree programs under a state-mandated review of low-enrollment programs.
- University officials also recommended consolidating or merging another 13 degrees with other programs. Fifteen others received two-year extensions so university leaders can assess workforce and student demand before reviewing them again.
- The proposed cuts and mergers come from a review of programs earlier this year. Deans and department chairs submitted recommendations in March to Provost Jason Keith, who plans to bring the proposals to the state’s board of regents later this month.
Dive Insight:
Last year, the Iowa Board of Regents directed the state’s three public universities to review their programs to ensure they align with workforce needs.
That included looking at enrollment levels. The board set thresholds for low-enrollment designations at 25 or fewer students in bachelor’s programs and 10 or fewer for graduate offerings.
The board instructed universities to identify program closures or mergers that would yield “administrative efficiencies, improve academic program alignments, or create enhanced opportunities for workforce preparation.”
Iowa State’s plan to cut 10 degrees — five undergraduate, five graduate — resulted from that review. On the chopping block are:
- Bioinformatics and computational biology (undergraduate)
- Environmental studies (undergraduate)
- Interdisciplinary design (undergraduate)
- Religious studies (undergraduate)
- Women’s and gender studies (undergraduate)
- Accounting analytics (graduate)
- Biophysics (graduate)
- Energy systems engineering (graduate)
- Interdisciplinary graduate studies (graduate)
- Toxicology (graduate)
The university said it would continue to offer elective courses as well as certificates and minors in many of those areas. Once the regents approve the cuts, current students will be allowed to finish their degrees, but the programs will not admit new students, according to Keith.
“Decisions to close programs are always difficult,” the provost said in a statement. “But it’s just as important to critically evaluate low enrollment programs as it is to propose new programs that leverage new technologies and meet evolving workforce needs.”
The plan also calls for combining over a dozen programs at Iowa State. For instance, four graduate physics programs would be combined into one degree program, and earth science and geology would be merged.
Seven other programs that fell below enrollment thresholds received exemptions because they “address critical workforce needs, are related to licensure, or already serve as a general umbrella program,” the university said. Those include programs in nursing, veterinary science, and math and science education.
The university is giving still other programs that missed the thresholds — many related to agriculture — more time before they are cut to study student demand and workforce impact.
In February, fellow state institution Iowa University presented its recommendations to the regents, with a plan to shed seven programs after identifying 29 that fell short of the enrollment thresholds. The university will seek formal regents approval at an April board meeting.
Iowa isn’t alone in these efforts.
Other states are likewise issuing mandates to their public colleges to drop low-enrollment programs. State lawmakers in Ohio and Indiana have both recently enacted legislation requiring public colleges to cut programs that miss graduate thresholds. While institutions can request exceptions under those laws, they’ve already led to voluminous eliminations.
Indiana’s public colleges, for example, collectively plan to suspend or axe 210 programs and consolidate another 370 by the end of the 2026-27 academic year under that state’s law.
