Academic cuts: June 2024 edition

Posted on July 5, 2024 by Bryan Alexander

As June just ran its course, I wanted to share stories of academic cuts I’ve been tracking from that month.

I’ve actually been blogging this theme for months now (March 1, March 20, March 28, April, May), partly as evidence for some points in the book I’m writing. I also hope to establish something of a record for 2024.

I’ve arranged the stories into the customary categories, with an addition, followed by some reflections.

1 Closing colleges and universities

Union Institute and University (private; mostly or entirely online) announced it would close this Sunday, June 30, following several years of financial crisis, receiving a federal Department of Education emergency letter, being sanctioned by its accreditor, and being sued for unpaid wages. Their website, https://myunion.edu/, was down for a few days. Now the front page is a good bye message:

Pittsburgh Technical College will close in August. The official announcement cited reasons my readers will recognize:

Like many colleges and universities across the country, PTC has faced declining enrollment, market pressures, and inflation in recent years due, in part, to the global pandemic and changing views of higher…