This is part of a series of posts on the financial analysis of the NU system, available here.
It is clear from several sources, from the Grad Studies vote to the budget analysis, that no program cuts are warranted at UNL.
So what are they doing? An end run around tenure, most certainly.
But perhaps a small college in Wisconsin can offer us some insights. As Higher Ed Dive reported, in March of 2025, St. Norbert College closed nearly two dozen programs and laid off 21 faculty members. Administrators claimed these cuts were necessary to balance the budget.
In 2026, the college will launch four new undergrad degree programs and a combined BA-MBA. These programs include such stalwarts of liberal arts education as cybersecurity management, exercise science, digital marketing, and sacred music. Ok, as a Catholic college, we can give them a pass on sacred music, I guess. New concentrations were also announced in media and communication studies, including sports media, business and professional communication, journalism or public image and promotion. Higher Ed Diver reported the college received a $15 million gift from the Norbertine Order in October, mere months after people were laid off to close a $7 million budget hole.
This is, in a word, not how this works. By all means, start new programs. But you don’t shutter existing programs to do so. And at UNL, programs that are on the chopping block enroll hundreds of students, and the university will lose that tuition generation. As the Daily Nebraskan reported, all of the units identified for elimination turn a profit.
The only way it makes any sense is if they think they are going to start new programs, with less well-paid faculty, no doubt, that will make up that revenue gap. We know they are trying to do that with EDAD, proposing to keep our Master’s of Higher Education program, just you know, not with any of the faculty that currently teach in it.
