Less than a month after Indiana’s public colleges and universities voluntarily agreed to cut or restructure hundreds of academic degree programs, state higher education officials provided new details Thursday on how the effort is unfolding — and what comes next.
At Thursday’s Indiana Commission for Higher Education meeting held at Ivy Tech’s Madison campus, agency staff outlined how they plan to implement a new state law that requires public institutions to seek approval to continue low-enrollment degree offerings.
CHE officials also shared updated data on the more than 400 programs already impacted through “voluntary actions” by state colleges universities.
The affected degree programs made up about 20% of Indiana’s academic offerings but accounted for just 4% of all graduates, according to commission data.
“This degree program review process is an excellent complement … to helping students have clear choices and understanding what those are,” said CHE Commissioner Chris Lowery. “This is the first step to helping make [students’ decisions] easier.”
‘No impact on students’
According to the commission, 404 degree programs across six institutions have so far been affected. Of those, 74 were eliminated; 101 were suspended; and 229 were merged or consolidated.
The total is down from the 408 programs initially announced in June after at least one institution asked to delay or revise their plans, said Matt Butler, CHE’s chief academic officer.
Board leadership repeatedly emphasized that the overall degree changes are expected to have little to no impact on students, however.
Butler specifically pointed out that most changes were consolidations and suspensions — not outright eliminations. Programs on the chopping block all had zero enrollment or were already on track to be phased out, he said.
“These are zero to low, very low, enrollment and completion programs,” Lowery added.
Suspended and merged programs will go through a federally required “orderly teach-out,” which allows currently-enrolled students to complete their original degrees or transition to an equivalent.
“In effect, there was no impact on students,” Butler said. “This is a substantial but measured reduction of the degree program portfolio.”
The review process is part of the commission’s broader strategy to improve postsecondary outcomes amid declining college-going rates. The state’s college-going rate fell again in 2023 to just 51.7%, according to a new CHE report — down from 68% in 2012.
Fewer options, clearer choices
Lowery noted that many Hoosier high school students report plans to attend college but fail to follow through.
He cited a 2023 survey commissioned by CHE which found that roughly 80% of Hoosier students and their parents saw value in pursuing higher education, yet the state’s college-going rate continues to decline.
“We have this delta of roughly 20% between those students who say they’re going to go … and those who end up taking action and actually enrolling,” Lowery said.
CHE officials believe one barrier is the overwhelming number of degree choices. Since the early 2000s, Indiana’s public institutions have added more than 1,000 bachelor’s degree programs — a 40% increase, even as enrollment has declined.
“We wonder why students are challenged in making these choices,” Lowery continued. “This degree program review process is an excellent complement … to helping students have clear choices and understanding what those are.”
What comes next
With the new law in effect, Indiana’s public higher education institutions must seek commission approval to continue any degree program that falls below a specific three-year average graduate threshold:
- 10 graduates for associate degrees,
- 15 for bachelor’s,
- 7 for master’s, and
- 3 for doctoral or education specialist degrees
CHE staff said they’re currently compiling a “mutual consensus list” of programs that fall below those benchmarks. Institutions will receive that list this month and must confirm its accuracy and submit program-level data — including enrollments, completions and credit hour production — to justify continuing any flagged degrees.
Programs may be approved to continue under several categories, including as “mission critical,” “mission aligned,” or “discretionary.” CHE will leave those definitions open for institutions to interpret in the first year, officials said Thursday.
To avoid penalizing new programs, CHE has also adopted a “ramp-up” period that gives schools additional time — up to 10 years for bachelor’s degrees and 12 for doctorates — to meet the graduation thresholds before coming under review.
Final decisions will be based on staff recommendations, reviewed by the commission’s Academic Affairs and Quality Committee, and voted on by the full board.
Streamlining in practice
Some of the most significant restructuring has so far happened in teacher training and world language programs.
Ball State University, for example, is consolidating four separate STEM education majors into a single bachelor’s degree in science education, with students selecting concentrations like chemistry, life science or physics.
Purdue Fort Wayne is merging early childhood, elementary and secondary education degrees into a unified offering, while Indiana University plans to reorganize 27 education programs across its system.
On the world languages front, 31 programs were affected, with most merged or suspended and just one eliminated.
CHE officials said those types of mergers reflect smarter use of faculty, facilities and advising systems, and make degree choices easier for students.
Lowery added that the consolidation effort rounds out several years of policy work aimed at making college more accessible. Other ongoing commission focuses include expanded career coaching, increased financial aid and a freeze on tuition at most public institutions.
“This starts to really bring together the elements that we have seen in our own data and research,” he said. “That’s to help students access, afford, and make decisions relative to their education.”