Campus closures, mergers, and cuts: a summer 2026 survey

Greetings from the summer solstice week in the Washington, DC area.  We’re alternating between serious heat (not yet at French levels) and serious storms. The happiest beings here are plants.

Today’s post is one of my semi-regular surveys of cuts to higher ed. I’ve been scanning for institutional closures, mergers, and staff/program cutbacks for several years. My goal is to collect evidence of such reductions, assembling them in one spot for public access and use.

(Previous posts – from 2026: February, May; from 2025: February, June, July, August, October; from 2024: March 1, March 20, March 28, April, May, June, July, September, November. )

My focus in these posts is American higher education, mostly due to reasons of time as well as the distinct features and importance of this nation’s academy. I add some examples from Canada, as that nation deals with fallout from deciding to cut international student enrollment, fallout which canny Americans might pay heed to.

I’ve divided what follows into the usual five parts: institutional closures, mergers, cuts, and potential cuts to come, with some reflections at the end.  I also add a Wikipedia link to each institution and a short tag describing its nature.

One note: as I’ve written these closure/merger/cut posts, more and more people have reached out to me to share news and personal stories.  I’m grateful to each of you. If you’re comfortable posting in the open, the comment box at the end of this post welcomes you.  If you’d rather communicate privately, please use this contact form.

1 Closures

No colleges nor universities have announced closures over the past two months that I’ve seen, not since two campuses shut down in New England.

We can check in on developments following from previous closures:. In Michigan, the University of Michigan is offering to buy the grounds of a shuttered school, Concordia University Ann Arbor.  Anna Maria College, which announced it would close in April, ordered faculty to clear out their spaces this month.  Anna Maria also hired a broker to sell its physical campus.  Some of its students are anxious about their scholarship funds.

2 Mergers

Two San Francisco area community colleges, Laney College and Merritt College, will merge next year, becoming a new entity, Oakland City College.  The reasons include: dwindling enrollment, the desire to reduce competition between the two, and persistent financial problems.

This passage from the SFGate article echoes my own forecasts and even language:

3 Campuses cutting programs and jobs

In Ohio Baldwin Wallace University (private) is ending “nine undergraduate majors, seven graduate programs and 19 minors.”  Those programs had zero or very low enrollment. As a result Baldwin will cut ten faculty lines.  The rationale is not financial exigency but shifting resources (i.e., money and people) to higher-enrolling academic programs.

Which programs are facing the ax? “The undergraduate program closures include economics, human resources, music theory, sociology, sustainability, physics and community health education promotion. The graduate cuts include Baldwin Wallace’s master’s programs in education and an MBA specialization in human resources management.”

The University of Maryland (public land-grant research university) laid off 84 staff.  The reason given: cuts to state and federal financial support.

Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore; private research) will cut 110 staff. Those workers supported research, and Hopkins lost $500 million in research funding due to Trump administration policies.

In New York the New School  (private research university) laid off nineteen faculty members and 68 staff (the language used is “involuntary separation”).  The rationale was a mix of enrollment and financial stress with a desire to restructure offerings.  As Higher Ed Dive notes, “[f]rom 2021 to 2024, fall enrollment at the institution declined 13.6% to 9,068 students, according to federal data. Going forward, the university expects to serve around 8,300 students.”

The American Association of University Professors’ New School chapter condemned the terminations, criticizing them for being unrelated to performance, disproportionately targeting women and people of color, and falling most heavily on the humanities and social sciences.  That AAUP chapter and individual faculty members have called out the New School’s administration for not consulting sufficiently with the community. An online petition calls for the New School to reinstate those instructors.

Portland State University (public research) will cut two major programs and fifty-two staff  members.  Also on deck are more cuts:

The latest plan includes tentative reductions in the Portland Center program for international students who study at PSU. University leaders are also proposing reductions across various academic realms. They include reductions in the professional education fields of Educator Licensure as well as Leadership, Learning, and Counseling. PSU proposes cutting liberal arts areas, such as of History, Philosophy, and World Languages and Literatures departments, as well as its School of Earth, Environment, and Society. These reductions total 26 positions represented by an educator union.

Also in Oregon, Southern Oregon University (public) announced a series of cuts: three academic programs to be shut down, the number of faculty deans  reduced to one, cutting more than 60 jobs.  SOU is facing financial problems, driven by enrollment declines: “The university enrolled 5,113 students in fall 2024, down 14.1% compared to 10 years ago, according to federal data. Full-time enrollment suffered even steeper losses, dropping to 3,209 students in fall 2025, down 22% from nine years ago…”  The state of Oregon will apparently give SOU $15 million if the institution turns its finances around.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; private research university) shut down one of its libraries, the Dewey. Budget problems were the stated reason.

Colorado State University (public land-grant) launched staff cuts to its Fort Collins and CSU Pueblo campuses.   The reason given was reduced state funding in the wake of rising costs.

Kent State University (public research) will lay off “up to 45 staff members” as it tries to avoid a budget deficit and grow a surplus.

Muhlenberg College (private liberal arts)  laid off nine staff members and ended sixteen unfilled positions.  The cause: a budget deficit, which the college’s chief financial officer described as ‘“not threaten[ing] the College’s survival, it is very serious.”

In Canada Sault College of Applied Arts and Technology (Ontario, public) will terminate eight faculty members due to lower enrollment in their fields.  That nation’s major cuts to international student numbers plays a role.

Following up on the George Brown Polytechnic cuts from May, a group of laid off faculty condemned the institution’s moves as part of provincial mismanagement and called for labor action to protect academics.

4 Impending or likely cuts

Here we consider college and university decisions and other developments with either announce cuts to come without committing to details, or which make cuts likely.

The president of the University of Oregon (public research) formally announced the campus would have to cut $65 million of its spending. The cause: lower than projected international and American out-of-state enrollment.  The administration seems to see this problem not as a one-off but as a long term trend.

The University of Wyoming (land grant, research) is facing a $15 million budget hole.  The reasons? “enrollment decline, inflation and reduced investment income, outgoing University of Wyoming President Ed Seidel said at the hearing.”  2% budget cuts for major units are on the table.

The state of Arizona passed a budget with significant cuts to higher education.  Institutions hit include: “$8 million from Arizona State University, $2.6 million from Northern Arizona University and a total of $5.7 million from University of Arizona.” Programs cut include:

• Dual Enrollment, $1.5 million
• Arizona Promise Program, $16.3 million
• Adult Workforce Diploma Program, $2.0 million
• Adult Education Workforce Program, $6.0 million
• Ninth Grade On‑Track Initiative, $3.4 million
• Adult Education Skills Program, $1.0 million

The University of Denver (private research) began a restructuring plan which involves merging and closing academic units.  To be closed:

the Department of Religious Studies within the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering within the Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science… Philosophy; Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies; and Socio-Legal Studies.

Mergers include:

The Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science is merging with the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The Graduate School of Professional Psychology will join with the Morgridge College of Education and the Graduate School of Social Work. To “integrate the performing arts,” the Lamont School of Music, the Department of Theatre and Newman Center Presents will be brought under the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

It is not clear how many jobs will be lost, as the institution plans to move positions and functions between units.  But “DU leaders acknowledged that the changes will eliminate an unspecified number of jobs.”

East Carolina University (North Carolina; public research) announced it would launch a series of program cuts to “a mix of certificates, minors and bachelor’s and master’s degrees across multiple colleges.”  The reason was to cut spending, although not in a crisis mode.  Not all of the programs were named, but those that were included:

• Sociology (BA)
• Middle Grades (MAED)
• Software Engineering (MS)
• Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality (MS)
• Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality (PB)
• Ethnic Studies (Minor)
• Physics (Minor)
• Speech and Hearing (Minor)
• Gerontology (PB)
• Family and Consumer Sciences (BS)
• Medical Family Therapy (PB)

Other terminations may be forthcoming at ECU: “The academic portfolio review committee also identified 51 other programs in need of significant changes. Departments overseeing those programs are required to submit plans by May 15 detailing steps to strengthen enrollment, improve outcomes or address other areas of concern.”

The University of Texas’ board passed a measure making it easier for individual campus presidents to close programs and terminate faculty members without faculty input before or after such decisions.

The president of Syracuse University (New York; private research) announced a major enrollment shortfall, both in number of students and also per-student revenue.  International student numbers also fell. As the linked Syracuse.com article observes, ‘A deficit could mean more cuts at a university already tightening its belt.”

A major Harvard University (private Ivy League research) unit may lay off staff this summer.  The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is considering terminating up to one quarter of its support staff in the face of a $365 million deficit caused in part by new and higher federal endowment tax rates.   It also decided to cut three senior administrators.

Moody’s Ratings lowered its financial rating for Columbia University (New York; private Ivy League research) from stable to negative. The reasons given were the Trump administration’s pressure on that campus as well as declining international student numbers.

Northpoint Bible College (Massachusetts; private Pentecostal) is ending its degree programs and shifting to offering certificate and other non-degree programs.   The reason: the Association for Biblical Higher Education withdrew Northpoint’s accreditation.

Stockton University (New Jersey; public) is starting to offer voluntary  buyouts to some academic workers.  The reasons include: rising staff costs; decreased state support; stable enrollment after some declines.  To that latter point, “[a]bout 8,300 students enrolled in the fall 2025 semester, compared with roughly 9,500 students in the fall 2019 semester, according to university data.”

5 Reflections

What do these stories tell us, overall?

I hesitate to repeat points I’ve made in previous posts in this series (see top of post for links), especially ones familiar to those of you who also read my books and seen my talks, but some leading trends seem worth repeating. Once again we see institutional enrollment declines driving financial problems.  Related to this, more academic leaders are citing the demographic transition as a challenge, cutting back the traditional-age undergrad pipeline.

The Trump administration continues its multiple affronts to the academy. We can see this in rising concerns over international student numbers, reflecting federal anti-immigration policies. We also see it in federal research funding cuts, which play out in the form of campus cuts. (I’ve been trying to track Trump’s campaign against higher ed in this YouTube series.)

Some state governments play a role here. The established pattern is cutting funding to public universities and colleges, and we see that continuing. There is also a theme of states negotiating with campuses for financial deals. And we also see some states politically intervening in the academy. The University of Texas move noted above should be seen as an example of this.

For years I’ve been recommending that some colleges and universities make a deliberate decision to shrink themselves.  Reducing the student body, trimming the physical footprint – these can be thoughtful, proactive moves for a campus facing headwinds.  This is one path I laid out in my latest book, Peak Higher Ed. Few campus leaders have wanted to say this is a good idea out loud, although some have told me so privately.  So I was interested to hear this bit in that Portland State story:

PSU administrators are working to close a projected $35 million budget deficit by the end of the 2026-27 school year. And university leaders have not shied away from the fact that in order to fill that gap, Portland State will have to become a smaller institution. [emphases added]

It’s still politically risky to explore such a strategy in public, especially for older folks accustomed to the post-1980 long boom in higher ed, but perhaps we’ll see more do so if the situation deteriorates further.

I was struck by this detail in the ECU program cuts story: “Faculty and academic departments initiated the closures of 33 programs… while a university oversight committee recommended the remaining 11.”  That’s quite a story about shared governance in some form. In how many campuses are faculty involved in making such decisions now?

Note that another religious campus is represented here with a massive cut and potential closure to come.  We have seen others struggle or fail over the past few years. I’m tempted to link those stories to declining American religiosity, which I’ve documented (2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, yet see here for a potential change), yet I’m aware of other factors, including many hyperlocal ones.

I’ll close with two requests to you, dear readers.  First, while I wrote about these developments with an emphasis on statistics and structures, remember that these are all stories about human beings and damages to human lives, from students to staff and faculty.

Second,  please reach out to me with more stories and evidence of such developments.  Many of you have done so openly (see acknowledgements below). Some prefer to contact me privately, which is understandable in our grim academic climate.  Please DM me on various socials or email me directly right here.

Please take care everyone.  My heart goes out to all students, faculty, and staff hit by these moves or anxious of what might come next.  It’s a rough time.  We should help each other.

(photo of Laney College by Michael Layefsky; thanks to Apostolos K., Glen McGee, Steven Kaye, and Peter Shea for links)