Dive Brief:
- The University of Lynchburg plans to eliminate 12 undergraduate majors, 25 minors and five graduate programs as it restructures around its most popular programs, the institution announced Thursday.
- With those changes, the private Virginia university will cut 40 staff positions in the short term and eliminate 40 faculty positions over the next three years. Additionally, University of Lynchburg has cut its executive team from nine vice presidents to five.
- The program eliminations affect 4.5% of the institution’s students. The university will allow current students in those majors to finish their studies over the next three to four years, it said in a press release.
Dive Insight:
In making steep cuts to its academic portfolio, University of Lynchburg cited a laundry list of woes common in the higher ed field today, including declining birth rates, this year’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid fiasco and lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Like many universities in today’s increasingly volatile higher ed landscape, finances have played a role,” the university said on a site devoted to the restructuring. It added that “rather than forcing cuts to merely ‘stay afloat,’” the university aimed to “use this opportunity as a catalyst for strategic transformation.”
The university, like many, has been hit by falling enrollment and financial woes. Between 2017 and 2022, fall headcount declined nearly 15% to just under 2,400 students, according to federal data.
In fiscal 2023, University of Lynchburg’s total operating revenues of $67.7 million fell $8.6 million short of expenses, according to the university’s latest auditor report. And that’s after posting a $3 million deficit the year before.
The institution built its restructuring plan around enrollment. Of the 51 majors it offers, 70% of undergraduates are concentrated in eight programs, and 95% of students are in 21 programs.
Among the majors University of Lynchburg will wind down are music physics, religious studies, Spanish, special education and theater.
The university is set to lay off staff in eliminated positions in the near term. But faculty will feel little immediate impact , according to the university. It expects to eliminate many faculty jobs through retirements, attrition and reassignments in the coming years.
The University of Lynchburg joins a growing number of colleges cutting down their academic offerings in an attempt to rein in costs. Of late, that list includes Northland College — which escaped a near-miss with closure — as well as Columbia College Chicago, Delta State University and St. Cloud State University. The latter unveiled a plan this spring to cut as many as 46 degrees and 50 minors.
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