January Brings Job and Program Cuts

Whereas December capped off a troublesome yr for larger schooling with roughly 300 jobs reduce and dozens of packages eradicated, faculties made fewer cutbacks to begin the yr.

January nonetheless noticed job cuts, however at a a lot decrease charge than the prior month. Like final yr, many establishments proceed to be squeezed by a mixture of federal and state funding pressures, declining enrollment, rising working prices, and monetary friction at even the wealthiest universities.

Here’s a take a look at the newest spherical of job and program cuts to begin 2026.

Santa Monica Faculty

Dealing with a persistent price range deficit that has climbed to a projected $16.7 million, directors plan to get rid of 70 jobs on the California neighborhood faculty, the Santa Monica Each day Press reported.

The announcement comes as officers have warned that the faculty might deplete its monetary reserves on account of a long-running price range deficit that they’ve struggled in recent times to rein in. Declining enrollment and current modifications to state funding additionally put strain on the faculty’s funds.

“This choice weighs closely on me,” superintendent and president Kathryn E. Jeffery wrote in a message to the neighborhood. “These are usually not simply positions on a spreadsheet—they symbolize actual folks, colleagues who’ve devoted themselves to our college students and our mission.”

California Faculty of the Arts

Set to shut on the finish of 2026–27 educational yr, the personal arts faculty laid off 28 staff final month, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The transfer got here roughly every week after Vanderbilt College introduced it was shopping for the Bay Space campus.

Of the 28 staff laid off in January, many reportedly labored in areas corresponding to educational affairs, enrollment providers, communications, scholar affairs, and the president’s workplace.

Vanderbilt purchased the campus amid current monetary struggles for CCA and plans to open a San Francisco campus following the closure, persevering with its nationwide enlargement past Nashville.

College of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Trustees on the flagship campus pushed via a shock decision final month to shave $17 million in administrative prices, triggering expectations of layoffs, The Information & Observer reported.

The newspaper reported that the last-minute decision, launched in a committee assembly, didn’t seem on the agenda for the assembly and was not obtainable for public assessment previous to the assembly. Some members on the board had been caught unexpectedly and they’d little time to look at the proposal.

The complete board in the end accredited the price range cuts regardless of course of issues with the vote. Chapel Hill officers haven’t specified precisely what the cuts accredited final month will goal, although UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts instructed the newspaper “layoffs are at all times a final resort.”

New Jersey Metropolis College

A looming merger between Kean College and New Jersey Metropolis College will end in some positions being eradicated, although precise numbers haven’t been launched, the Jersey Metropolis Instances reported.

An official at Kean, which is absorbing the financially challenged NJCU as a part of the merger deal, instructed the newspaper that “a majority of NJCU school and employees are anticipated to be retained post-merger,” however some cuts are wanted to “deal with a $25 million to $30 million budgetary hole.”

Kean additionally unveiled plans in December to drop 9 diploma packages and different choices.

Pennsylvania Western College

PennWest officers plan to chop dozens of packages amid efforts to recalibrate educational choices so as to higher align with trendy studying and workforce wants, the Pittsburgh Publish-Gazette reported.

Officers on the public college plan to axe not less than six undergraduate levels, 4 graduate packages and 34 minors. One other 9 bachelor’s diploma packages supplied throughout PennWest’s three campuses are additionally into account and could possibly be reduce. Nevertheless, regardless of this system cuts, officers instructed the newspaper that it doesn’t have corresponding plans to put off school and employees members.

Program cuts observe a current spherical of furloughs at two PennWest campuses final fall.

College of Montana

Officers on the flagship campus have proposed terminating grasp’s diploma packages in literature and economics and pausing minors in Chinese language and Irish research on account of low enrollment, the Montana Free Press reported.

College Senate and the Workplace of the Commissioner of Increased Training should nonetheless assessment the proposal earlier than the college winds down packages focused for elimination. College, college students and alumni have pushed again on the plan; the Economics Division chair stated the grasp’s diploma focused for elimination has maintained secure enrollment.

Officers declined to say what number of staff can be affected by the proposed cuts.

Texas A&M College

Whereas many program cuts in January had been pushed by funds, others had been political in nature.

Texas A&M officers introduced late final month that they had been axing the Girls’s and Gender Research program, efficient instantly, to adjust to a system coverage that restricts discussions of “race or gender ideology.”

Past the coverage, which has additionally prompted Texas A&M to censor a few of Plato’s writings in a philosophy course, officers famous that this system had struggled with low enrollment.

College of Pennsylvania

One of many nation’s wealthiest universities is enacting far-reaching price range cuts.

Officers at Penn—which has an endowment just lately valued at $24.8 billion—just lately requested models throughout campus to arrange to reduce expenditures by 4 % within the subsequent fiscal yr, which begins July 1, the Philadelphia Enterprise Journal reported. Officers attributed the campus-wide price range cuts to a second of “appreciable uncertainty” for the Ivy League college, which has confronted federal pressures from the Trump administration in current months.

Penn is at the moment in a standoff with the U.S. Equal Employment Alternative Fee (EEOC), which accused the college of defying a subpoena in an investigation into alleged antisemitism. The EEOC is looking for data on Jewish college students and staff, which Penn has resisted offering on account of issues in regards to the legality of the demand and exposing private particulars.