American higher education is lurching into an era of austerity.
The nation’s colleges and universities are confronting a series of financial crises — fueled only in part by the White House — that are prompting layoffs, pushing costs higher and leaving the academic experience in flux.
Colleges are eliminating or consolidating programs, sometimes dozens of them on a single campus. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is planning to more than halve its financial aid budget for out-of-state students. From coast to coast, graduate schools are admitting fewer applicants.
The financial squeeze comes just as demographic trends point toward plunging enrollments in the coming years that could force further belt-tightening.
Although months may pass before some of the most drastic shifts take effect, students and administrators alike are facing uncertainty over how much a school could potentially change over the course of a semester, much less an entire degree program.
Some of the turmoil traces directly to the Trump administration, which has been seeking to punish a clutch of elite schools. It is also, more broadly, trying to transform the financial ties between Washington and the nation’s colleges.
But budgets are falling at schools across the spectrum, whether they are state flagships, wealthy private institutions, liberal arts schools, regional public universities or community colleges. For many, the reasons have nothing to do with the federal government. They include:
- Rising administrative and support costs, which have soared in recent decades, even as state legislatures have tightened public spigots.
- Higher tuition prices, among other considerations, which have turned off students, who are routinely paying more and oftentimes getting less.
- Some academic programs that draw few students.
