More bad news for higher ed in IL

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Our closest public university has eliminated 4 degree programs.  More programs are being discussed as well.

 

 

http://khqa.com/news/local/wiu-board-approves-elimination-of-4-degree-programs

 

For those of you in states with strong public higher ed, count your blessings.  

[vonfirmath]

The article says they decided to drop the degrees due to declining enrollment. My expectation is that a college would want to focus on the degrees that people actually want. And yes, that could mean sometimes dropping degrees that are not as popular to open up room for new degrees.

 

[Lori D.]

At least your State University is not completely dumping all of the Humanities departments, as State University of New York in Albany did in 2010 (see article about to be linked). Or sell out to business interests for money, as other colleges have done or are tempted to do by big dollar donors, as mentioned in this article: "When Universities Try to Behave Like Businesses, Education Suffers".

 

 

In our state, the state universities, while still strong, are becoming increasing unaffordable, with tuition having more than doubled to approx. $11.5K/year since the 2008 economic downturn and housing bubble bursting. We are well above the average state university tuition cost now. To keep financially afloat from that economic disaster, the state pays almost nothing to the universities and community colleges, which pushes most of the cost of tuition on students -- and simultaneously salaries have not risen and we still have a fairly high jobless rate, making those tuition rates even more unaffordable. Sadly, your state of IL "wins" that distinction of state with highest jobless rate; my state made the top 15. :(

Edited June 10, 2016 by Lori D.

[MarkT]

1)At least your State University is not completely dumping all of the Humanities departments, as State University of New York in Albany did in 2010 (see article about to be linked).

 

 

2) Or sell out to business interests for money, as other colleges have done or are tempted to do by big dollar donors, as mentioned in this article: "When Universities Try to Behave Like Businesses, Education Suffers".

 

 

3) In our state, the state universities, while still strong, are becoming increasing unaffordable, with tuition having more than doubled to approx. $11.5K/year since the 2008 economic downturn and housing bubble bursting. We are well above the average state university tuition cost now. To keep financially afloat from that economic disaster, the state pays almost nothing to the universities and community colleges, which pushes most of the cost of tuition on students -- and simultaneously salaries have not risen and we still have a fairly high jobless rate, making those tuition rates even more unaffordable. Sadly, your state of IL "wins" that distinction of state with highest jobless rate; my state made the top 15. :(

1) SUNY Albany

http://www.npr.org/2010/11/15/131336270/cuts-to-university-s-humanities-program-draw-outcry

low enrollment programs got cut - what's the other choice in today's climate?

 

2) You should have mentioned that our wonderful well paid UofA president grabbed that vacant DeVry position. What a "crock" her answers have been to the media!

 

3) I have lived in AZ since 1999, it is incredible how much the state U's tuition has gone up versus wages.

[Matryoshka]

In all fairness to SUNY Albany, the cut languages are no longer offered in many of the high schools they draw from, as the state K12 budget during the recession forced a lot of cutbacks, so there isnt much demand....students are more likely to continue with the language they started in middle school, which for many is a choice of Spanish for nonspanish speakers or Spanish for spanish speakers. Other SUNY schools still offer plenty of language choices.

 

I have never heard anyone describe SUNY Albany as the LA Times does - it is not known for undergrad engineering or science. You go there to par-tay while getting your undergrad degree in bio or history, then go on to med school, law school, or a master's in teaching. The school was a Normal school for much of its early years. One goes to SUNY Bing, Stonybrook, or Buffalo for undergrad engineering.

 

Wait, SUNY Albany cut the humanities?  Than what the heck is it good for?

 

Dd's guidance counselor for some unknown reason recommended she apply there for CompSci - I looked into it, and the CompSci major offers a BA option (!!?), and classes like "Computers and Society".  I looked at their programming classes, and found many are taught in cutting-edge langauges like COBOL and Fortran (for those not savvy, those were obsolescent languages already when i went to school in the 1980's...)

 

She did not apply there. After seeing the train wreck that was their CompSci program, I figured it must be stronger in the humanities, but....??  

[Granny_Weatherwax]

The article says they decided to drop the degrees due to declining enrollment. My expectation is that a college would want to focus on the degrees that people actually want. And yes, that could mean sometimes dropping degrees that are not as popular to open up room for new degrees.

I agree completely.  It's just that this announcement comes on the tail of a recent massive layoff and reorganization.  There are more projected layoffs within three years as the students currently in the programs graduate and the majors are phased out.  Even though the programs will be available as minors, there will be no need to maintain the same numbers of faculty or support staff.  As of yet, there are no discussions as to whether or not new degrees will be added; just more degrees and programs to be cut in the coming months.

 

I do wonder where the state of higher ed in IL will be when all is said and done.  Obviously, the short term impact will be greatly different than that experienced over time.