Purdue says students in 'low enrollment programs' will not be affected mid-degree
Purdue's release followed questions surrounding what would happen to students currently enrolled in majors facing potential elimination and faculty who specialize in those subjects.
Public Law 213, born out of House Bill 1001 in the 2025 legislative session setting Indiana's state budget, states that academic programs must meet a three-year average number of students who graduate from the program in order to automatically continue. That threshold is 10 students for an associate's degree program, 15 students for a bachelor's degree program, seven students for a master's degree program, or three students for a doctorate degree program.
The university said in the release it has received only a "preliminary (and now outdated) list" of low-conferred degree programs from the state of Indiana and is told to expect an updated version later this summer.
"Any potential decisions would follow in accordance with that future list by the end of the 2025-26 academic year. Lists recently shared by the media are not accurate," the release said.
Through data provided by Purdue University to the U.S. Department of Education from 2021 to 2023, at least 48 majors were identified by the Journal & Courier to fall into the "low enrollment program" threshold.
In an email provided to the Journal & Courier, Joel Ebarb, executive associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts, sent to CLA department heads a list of bachelor's, master's and doctorate programs that do not meet the new state requirements.
Ebarb said in the email that a plan for each degree must be provided to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education to preserve the program, but that not all degree programs will be preserved, and some could possibly consolidate with other programs.
"Please note: we cannot save and/or defend each of these credentials," Ebarb said in the email. "If there was ever a time you wished to suspend/expire a program, this is it."
Of the degrees at risk listed in the email, 17 were bachelor's programs, 10 were master's programs and two were doctorate programs.
The state of Indiana allows its public universities to complete the existing commitment to all currently enrolled and incoming students, the university release said. Degree programs "are not expired," the release explained, until current students have completed their studies.
"There are multiple options of potential decisions, one of which is merging multiple low-enrollment programs into one program," the release said. "Merging programs will not impact student opportunities: Any merging of existing programs into or under larger degree programs and Classification of Instructional Programs codes will not reduce student opportunities. In fact, historically and currently there are many cases where multiple majors reside in one degree program."
Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached via email at jellison@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue: 'Low enrollment program' students will not be affected mid-degree
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"Only degree programs on the Mutual Consensus List must obtain approval to continue from the commission." Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached via email at jellison@ This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue opts to cut or consolidate 7 programs ahead of new state law
