Rural students' options shrink as rural colleges slash majors, shedding degree programs from music to chemistry

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

‘Easy to just write us off’: Rural students’ options shrink as colleges slash majors
As enrollments fall, rural-serving universities are shedding degree programs from music to chemistry


CLEVELAND — With no car and a toddler, Shamya Jones enrolled this fall at the four-year university in her small town in Mississippi — Delta State University.

She planned to major in digital media arts, but before she could start, the college eliminated that major, along with 20 other degree programs including history, English, chemistry and music.

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Many of the comparatively few universities that serve rural students are eliminating large numbers of programs and majors, blaming plummeting enrollment and resulting financial crises. Nationwide, college enrollment has declined by 2 million students, or 10 percent, in the 10 years ending in 2022, hitting rural schools particularly hard. An increasing number of rural private, nonprofit colleges are not only cutting majors, but closing altogether.

“We are asking rural folks to accept a set of options that folks in cities and suburbs would never accept,” said Andrew Koricich, a professor of higher education at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. “It’s almost like, ‘Well, this is what you get to learn, and this is how you get to learn it. And if you don’t like it, you can move.’ ”

For many rural students, there are already few places to go. About 13 million people live in higher education “deserts,” the American Council on Education estimates, mostly in the Midwest and Great Plains, where the nearest university is beyond a reasonable commute away.

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St. Cloud State University in Minnesota is cutting 42 degree programs, for example, including criminal justice, gerontology, history, electrical and environmental engineering, economics and physics.

The University of Alaska System has scaled back more than 40 programs since 2020, including earth sciences, geography and environmental resources and hospitality administration.

Also during that period, Henderson State University in Arkansas dropped 25 and. Emporia State University in Kansas cut, merged or downgraded around 40 undergraduate and graduate majors, minors and concentrations.

The State University of New York at Fredonia is dropping 13 majors. SUNY Potsdam is cutting chemistry, physics, philosophy, French, Spanish and four other programs.

The University of North Carolina Asheville is discontinuing religious studies, drama, philosophy and concentrations in French and German.

[dsc]

1. The people in those areas largely voted for those who have made this inevitable

so they are getting what they want presumedly.

[Mike 03]

3. Yup. I live in a semi-rural area and the older folks here

talk about how we "need to keep our kids living in town" while slicing our community college to smithereens, giving them no choice but to leave, not just to get an education but to get out of this stifling are with a poor jobs market.

They will not abide tax increases for the schools or for any sort of entertainment venue for young people. Even putting in a public swimming pool or a recreation area is just too big a sacrifice. It's the local Tea Party that fights everything the town wants to do to raise the quality of life.

IMO it's only a matter of time before our hospital simply shuts down.

[Kaleva]

9. Our hospital has already shut down

It's about a 45 minute to an hour ride in an ambulance to the nearest hospital emergency room.

[moonscape]

13. I live in a high population area

on the CA central coast and we don’t have adequate health care. There is not a primary care doc accepting new Medicare patients and our hospital is not large enough to serve the community. ER waits can be many (many) hours with gurneys in the hall.

Not the same, obviously, but should not be this strained. We’re fortunate we can get to a teaching hospital in the same time you mention, and I recently did that in order to get prompt, competent, emergency surgery and care.

[Kaleva]

8. 18-22 year olds in rural areas voted for Trump?

[dsc]

10. Trump won males under 30

so almost certainly that is the case.

[Kaleva]

12. What percentage of 18-22year olds voted?

[Dem4life1234]

41. This!

Alot of them don't even bother to fucking vote.

[Alice B.]

19. I live in a rural college town

Last edited Mon Dec 2, 2024, 01:35 PM - Edit history (1)

And have seen TFG banners and signs on student housing. He also held a rally here and it seemed like a fair number of students went, hats and all.

I almost wondered if some of them thought they were being contrary for fun without really understanding what he’s *really* about.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

16. That makes it easier to stomach, doesn't it.

Even though it hurts everybody.

[dsc]

24. If we want to cure the problem we have to acknowledge it

Biden did policy that largely helped rural areas, in some cases to the detriment of his base, and we see what he got for his efforts. No Democrat will ever do that again and that should be communicated.

[Dem4life1234]

38. Absolutely

The Rethugs like that they are uneducated and ignorant.

Biden reached out to them and they want to bite his hand.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Yes, life is all about place - where you live.

Money helps, as an escape, but it's not the most limiting factor for most Americans. Place is the problem.

College is being streamlined. Cost cutting. Society won't bear the burden of operating departments and majors at a loss.

The laser path out of place is skills. Skills that pay, so you can go to a place that hosts civilization.

Digital skills buys a ticket. To those being truncated into another major, leave. There is more fertile ground. But down that path means the remaining rural education shrinks some more.

[Irish_Dem]

4. The problem is that areas with colleges and amenities are more expensive.

It is hard for people to find affordable housing and cost of living.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

35. definitely. In Urban areas, colleges located every few miles. In rural areas, even California, students have long drive

long long drives to get to the nearest community colleges.

[hatrack]

5. Running neatly in tandem with loss of rural hospitals . . .

You will be sicker, and you will be ignorant - it's the 'Murcan Way.

[moonscape]

14. And you can't get fresh produce

in food deserts.

[lostnfound]

6. No reason to expect them to stay open; falling birth rate for 20 years makes this inevitable

A long decline in college age population implies less incoming students, — 15% drop over 20 years. That doesn’t count the availability of online classes and learning environments.

Having professors for so many disciplines for the sake of keeping rural colleges open when student populations are continuing to fall doesn’t make sense.

This article points to closure of 17 colleges last year, and how their declining enrollment had happened for 2 decades, making the colleges shrink from an average of 379 students to 122 students. These would be the extreme cases, but I’d suspect that similar issues face medium sized rural colleges. In the face of fewer students, colleges are likely to either close or reduce the number of majors offered.

[JI7]

7. If they aren't getting students what are they supposed to do ?

[Passages]

11. Ok, I am completely horrified.

We are destroying ourselves for capitalism.

[Historic NY]

15. To be real

Ferdonia and Potsdam are at the end of the world in NY. State

Ferdonia had at least 29 courses with 1-9 students.
The programs represent 15% of all Fredonia majors, with a total enrollment of 74 students — just 2% of all the school’s undergraduates. A third of these students are set to graduate in the spring.

https://www.bestcolleges.com/news/suny-fredonia-cuts-13-degree-programs/]

https://www.highereddive.com/news/suny-potsdam-reduces-number-of-academic-program-cuts-from-14-to-9/697798/

Suny Canton is doing well among the far north SUNY, it offers a variety of programs

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

36. oh wow... that is a tiny college. I'm surrounded by university and colleges with enrollments of 30,000 plus

so many options. Yet MAGAs call Urban areas "Hell holes"

[Johonny]

17. They never fire the administrators

Its always the teachers. Colleges are bloated with administration.

[dalton99a]

20. +1. The deans always need more executive associate deans and associate deans and

assistant deans in charge of institutional process improvement and copier maintenance

[Wicked Blue]

26. And associate assistant deans and so on ...

Agree with you completely!

I was saying this years ago as I watched Rutgers University grow increasingly bloated at the top, while tuition skyrocketed.

[dalton99a]

29. Yep. With their own reserved parking spaces, admins, and travel accounts

while students accumulate more debt and live on ramen noodles

[Passages]

34. Yes, they follow a business model.

That was not always the case. High schools have numerous administrative positions too.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

37. lol. Career adjacent to me, so had to laugh.

[Johnny2X2X]

18. $2.3 Million reasons to go to college

There's a rejection of college among a lot of small town people as a form of anti intellectualism. But the latest data shows college graduates will make $2.3M more than non college graduates over the course of their careers.

When you bring up this fact, a lot of people deflect to things like, "Yeah, well AI... better to learn a trade." or "Sure, your 18th century French poetry degree..." We don't know how AI is going to effect jobs yet, but I'd bet college graduates will be positioned better than non college graduates to benefit from AI in their careers. Liberal Arts degrees make up a fraction of college graduates, but even those people get better jobs too.

And I respect the trades more than most. I am from a blue collar family and my dad was and my brother is a die maker. The trades can be a path to a middle class lifestlye, and if you have some initiative you can open your own company even. But most of the jobs people really want, require a college degree. Your "cushy" office job with WFH options, good benefits, and a good work life balance are going to people with business, finance, engineering etc etc degrees. Trades people can earn a good living, but those jobs come with a steep price of wear and tear on the body that I see my family paying now that they're older.

Gen X here, from the time I could open a book, adults have been telling me that "the only way you're going to be in the middle class when you grow up John is if you get a college degree." And when I got done with high school I tested this, wasn't motivated to go to school right away, thought I could work blue collar jobs. I quickly realized it was going to be much easier to make a living if I just went to college, so I eventually did and it paid off.

More and more I see regular people showing disdain for college. I see the posts on Nextdoor and other Social media. "The dumbest thing you could ever do is go to college now." "College is stupid and a waste of money, learn a trade." How did this change so quickly? I don't remembe this attitude before the last decade or so. And of course one of the major political parties latched onto and exploited it. And you even hear more anti college rhetoric from the other party now too.

Go to college, it's still the greatest investment you can make in yourself for the overwhelming majority of people.

[travelingthrulife]

22. I remember this happening in1974, especially among young men.

They are taught to hate education so the cheap labor pool stays a healthy size.

The cost of school now is ridiculously prohibitive.

[Johnny2X2X]

25. Costs are an issue

There are ways to go still. Go to community college for 2 years. Gets grants, scholarships, and yes, take loans.

You only hear about the exceptions. How many stories have we heard about people working at coffee shops who have a mountain of student loan debt? But the vast majority of people who have student debt are doing just fine. I have student loan debt, it's still the best investment I ever made. I owe everything I have in life to my education. You've got doctors and nurses with student debt, you've got engineers with student debt, lawyers, etc etc. Again, $2.3 Million reasons to go to college. Unless your student debt costs you $2.3M, you got a good return. There are people making $150K+ a year with significant student loan debt, but those people don't get interviewed for the nightly news.

And people always wonder, "do you use your degree?" Well, in my case, my degree(s) demonstrated I have the ability to learn new things, so I was hired based on that. I am an engineer, I rarely do any calculus or use any concepts I learned in school. But new tools and new technology are something I am pretty good at figuring out, that's why I was hired. It's the same with any basic degree, it's a gate keeper for employers because they know someone with a 4 year degree demonstrated the ability to learn new things, to show up to something for at least 4 years, and to show the minimim amount of self discipline to get through college. That's why you see so many jobs requiring a degree.

And sure, I know people with all educationn levels who are doing well, but on average, the people I know who struggle the most are the ones who never got their degree.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

42. ..and college isnt all about employment opportunities. It opens the mind .. i cant think of another experience

that put me in long term contact with people from all walks of life.

[Johnny2X2X]

44. Absolutely!

When I did go away to a big state school, it was completely eye opening in that way. All the sudden I was meeting people from all over the country and world. Had some roommates who were grad students from Germany. Met people from all walks of life. The city. The country. I thought I had a relatively diverse upbringing, but I really didn’t realize how sheltered I was until college.

All the sudden I knew people in several countries, and different parts of the US. All the sudden I had Chinese and Korean friends. Friends from Brazil, Israel, and the Netherlands. I had a friend to go visit in London. Friends to show me around Munich.

Opened up whole worlds to me.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

45. my first experience eating a bagel! happened in college. LOL

[Johnny2X2X]

46. Oh man, the food!

Had a Korean friend take me for real Korean food. I had no idea what Korean food even was. This was the 90s and I was from a medium sized city, I had no idea about a lot of cultures’ different foods. Discovered good Thai. Good Middle Eastern. All in college.

Dated a Japanese girl from Hawaii and she had her own family recipes she’d make.

You get to see so many different types of people and because it’s college you have a reason to get to know them. Hicks, rich kids, all races and religions, poor kids. People who were the first in their family to ever get to go to college and people who were a huge disappointment to their family for only getting into a Big Ten school instead of the Ivy League.

For a lot of people it’s the most diverse time in their lives.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

39. the incoming administration is going to decimate higher ed. The Wrestling lady is anti college

[travelingthrulife]

21. Our media should be making it clear that GOP is doing this to them.

[Wicked Blue]

27. Our media is owned by the GOP nt

[Dem4life1234]

43. Yup! Stooges to the GOP

[milestogo]

23. You go to college to learn critical thinking.

You might not learn it in college, and you might not learn it with every major... but the odds are a lot better if you go to college than if you don't. And critical thinking will help you in everything you do in life- no matter what career path you follow. It will help you understand the world. It will help you vote.

I went to a really good state school back in the seventies. It was huge and there was every major you could think of. Tuition was $250 a semester, and you could work your way through by working summers and a part time job.

Those days are gone. Now you have to have wealthy parents or go into debt.

[Wicked Blue]

28. Same here. Tuition $200 and fees $65 a semester at Rutgers

Critical thinking is precisely what the oligarchs and their GOP minions intend to eradicate in the U.S.

[milestogo]

30. We're halfway there.

People don't read.

The gap between people who think/read and people who don't is getting wider.

[hunter]

31. Could some sort of hybrid "on-campus / online" teaching solve this problem?

On-campus general education teachers would interact with all the students, teaching their own specialties and shepherding students through more specialized online coursework, especially those students who are unable to do online work at home for any number of reasons. Such a campus could also have general purpose science/technical labs adaptable to many disciplines.

That's my politically correct proposal.

More honestly, I think every kid ought to have the opportunity to escape small town U.S.A., and not just by joining the military, which has always been the traditional avenue of escape.

Many small towns in the U.S.A. are bleak. Maybe we should leave these towns to the ghosts.

[lame54]

32. Charge too much and offer little

[Initech]

33. The MAGA party won't be statisfied until education is eliminated completely in this country.

Fuck all of these assholes. Education is essential to the future of the United States. And we can't let it fall to these fucking assholes, not today, not ever.

[NickB79]

40. St. Cloud State is my alma mater

Class of 2003, bachelor's degree in biochemistry.

My daughter was asking if she should consider it for college. I told her flat out, NO. Focus on the U of MN instead.