Kansas universities need to save money. These are the majors that could be eliminated

Roughly 61 majors at Kansas public universities could be on the chopping block as the Kansas Board of Regents considers ways to save money.

Last year, the regents, the governing body for the universities, started to take a closer look at majors that didn’t average a minimum of 25 students over five years and average 10 graduates over the same period — programs under 5 years old were exempt. The process started before COVID-19 reached Kansas, but cost-cutting has taken a new sense of urgency amid a pandemic that has affected everyone.

The University of Kansas predicted over the summer that it would come up nearly 26% short on the money needed to cover its costs during the current school year. Lost revenue from COVID-19 are blamed for the shortfall.

Despite the pandemic hardships, Wichita State University hopes to sway the regents into keeping its three under-performing majors — product design and manufacturing engineering, philosophy and honors — during its Jan. 20 presentation.

“Wichita State … regularly and routinely monitors enrollment in majors and takes very seriously our responsibility to ensure high quality and cost-effective programs,” WSU Interim Provost Shirley Lefever said in an emailed statement. “We are hopeful that the Board of Regents will support our recommendation of continuation for these programs, which is based on our careful review of their contribution to the mission of the university.”

There are 61 majors that meet the regents’ criteria statewide. About 34 of those support general education, which are required courses for any bachelor’s degree at the six universities. Even if those courses were eliminated, universities would still need to find a way for their students to take them, such as online at another school.

Emporia State University “courses serve multiple majors which allows for added efficiency and opportunity – maximizing course value while offering the widest variety of majors to our students,” ESU Director of Media Relations Gwendolynne Larson said in an email. “Eliminating these programs ... in most cases would yield little to no cost savings.”

Other universities say it is too early to know if cutting the majors would result in any savings.

Faculty is the “largest single expense” category at universities, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Like classes covering multiple majors, however, professors can also teach in different majors, so cutting a program won’t necessarily mean saving money via staff cuts.

Universities are still presenting to the regents and no date has been set to discuss the future of those programs, according to a regents spokesperson.

A Fort Hays State University spokesperson said the criteria looked at student data for academic years between 2013 to 2018 and majors were classified under a uniform naming system that doesn’t necessarily represent how the universities identify the major, which could be the same case at other universities.

Here’s a look at majors under consideration for being cut, with those that support general education noted:

Emporia State University (13 majors)

• Business and Innovation/Entrepreneurship Teaching Education
• Health Teacher Education
• Music Teacher Education
• Foreign Languages and Literatures, General
• Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Physical Sciences, General
• Chemistry, General
• Geology/Earth Science, General
• Physics, General
• Econometrics and Quantitative Economics
• Political Science and Government, General
• Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, General
• History, General

Fort Hays State University (6 majors)

• Art Teacher Education
• Foreign Languages and Literature, General
• Philosophy
• Physics, General
• Art/Art Studies, General
• Music, General

Kansas State University (7 majors)

• Ethnic Studies
• Women’s Studies
• Humanities/Humanistic Studies
• Statistics, General
• Physical Sciences, General
• Clinical Laboratory Science/Medical Technology/Technologist
• Accounting and Business Management, which is an associate’s degree offered at the KSU Polytechnic Campus in Salina

Pittsburg State University (17 majors)

• Family and Consumer Sciences/Home Economics Teacher Education
• Mathematics Teacher Education
• Biology Teacher Education
• Communication Education
• Foreign Languages and Literature, General
• Mathematics, General
• Polymer Chemistry
• Physics, General
• Economics, General
• Geography
• Political Science and Government, General
• Sociology, General
• Music Performance, General
• Clinical Laboratory Science/Medical Technology/Technologist
• International Business/Trade/Commerce
• History, General
• Integrated Studies

University of Kansas (15 majors)

• African Studies
• American/United States Studies/Cultivation
• European Studies/Civilization
• Russian Studies
• Latin American and Caribbean Studies
• Art Education
• Physical Education Teaching and Coaching
• Slavic Languages, Literature, and Linguistics, General
• German Studies
• Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General
• Humanities/Humanistic Studies
• Ancient Studies/Civilization
• Religion/Religious Studies
• Astronomy
• Dance, General

Wichita State University (3 majors)

• Philosophy
• Honors
• Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering

This story was originally published January 19, 2021 at 4:27 AM.