Indiana Capital Chronicle
For The Republic
The Indiana Commission on Higher Education voted Wednesday to consolidate, suspend, eliminate or monitor more than 1,000 low-enrolled degree programs at Hoosier public colleges and universities.
The commission spent the past nine months reviewing 3,400 academic programs to identify low-enrolled degrees to comply with House Enrolled Act 1001, which took effect last July as lawmakers seek to streamline higher education toward in-demand careers.
Six of Indiana’s public colleges and universities already voluntarily agreed to cut or restructure hundreds of academic degree programs last summer.
The commission will also begin a separate review of low-wage degrees following Wednesday’s meeting to comply with Senate Enrolled Act 199 that was approved by the General Assembly in February and takes effect July 1. The measure directs CHE staff to review programs whose graduates earn median wages below the average earnings of a high school graduate in Indiana — ranging roughly from $24,000 to $35,000 — and determine by Dec. 1 whether those programs should continue, be restructured or be consolidated.
What happens to the degrees
Only 210 low-enrolled degrees identified by all seven public universities and the commission were suspended or eliminated.
Another 374 degrees were merged or consolidated within similar degree programs. This includes 79 programs that exceeded the state’s threshold for low enrollment.
Colleges and universities identified 280 new degree programs — those that have only started enrolling students in recent years — that will be temporarily exempt from these standards while recruitment ramps up. The commission agreed to revisit those programs over the next seven to 12 years.
Similarly, schools identified 53 low-enrolled degrees that do not directly enroll students. These “stop-out” degrees are used by students who are unable to finish their original degree, but who wish to earn a similar credential in a lower tier like an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.
CHE staff recommended the board monitor 139 programs below the enrollment threshold identified by colleges and universities as critical to the workforce. The commission gave the non-specific example of a doctoral neuroscience program with only two students.
These programs will be placed on improvement plans to increase enrollment or completions, incorporate student-serving features and improve industry alignment, according to CHE officials.
How degrees are ID’d for review
The 2025 law uses a three-year rolling average to identify degrees producing few graduates.
A bachelor’s degree should produce at least 15 graduates in this time, while an associate’s degree should produce 10 graduates.
The state imposed lower graduate thresholds for master’s and doctoral programs at seven and three graduates within three years, respectively.
Students who enrolled in a degree slated for suspension or elimination will be given the option to finish their degree before the program is fully eliminated. This includes students who enrolled in such a program for the fall 2026 semester.
Schools will cease new admissions in affected programs; no enrollments will be allowed by fall 2027.
What’s next
Indiana’s public colleges and universities voluntarily made changes to low-enrolled degree programs last year in anticipation of HEA 1001, including the elimination of 71 degrees with few or no students enrolled.
An estimated 1,700 degree programs will remain unchanged. State officials emphasized that only 4% of 2024 graduates earned a degree in any of the 1,000 degrees subject to CHE action Wednesday.
Another 2,400 degree programs offered by Hoosier state colleges and universities — which produced roughly 96% public school graduates in 2024 — remain unaffected.
The commission did not review the additional 3,000 degree programs offered by private or for-profit colleges.
— The Indiana Capital Chronicle covers state government and the state legislature. For more, visit indianacapitalchronicle.com.
