EDITORS' CORNER
Degrees with median earnings below high school graduates could be cut
An Indiana bill that would cut funding for “low-earning degrees” is now headed to Governor Mike Braun’s desk and, if signed, would take effect on July 1.
An undergraduate degree is classified as having low earnings outcomes if, four years after graduation, the median earnings of its graduates do not exceed the median wages of certain high school-educated workers, Higher Ed Dive reported.
Senate Bill 199 requires the Indiana Commission for Higher Education to evaluate these programs and decide whether they should be continued as is, restructured, or consolidated with others.
Programs at risk of closing “include Ball State University’s bachelor’s degree in dance, Indiana University at Bloomington’s bachelor’s in music, Ivy Tech Community College’s associate degree in library and archives assisting, and Purdue Northwest’s bachelor’s in computer software and media applications, among others,” Inside Higher Ed reported.
The bill has prompted mixed reviews.
“Some forms of higher education out there simply don’t help students achieve economic mobility,” American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Preston Cooper said, according to Chalkbeat Indiana. “Students take on debt and end up making less than a typical high school graduate.”
Meanwhile, Democrat leaders have criticized the bill for focusing solely on economic outcomes.
“I think we’re going down a dangerous path when we start eliminating degree programs because we don’t think they make enough money,” Rep. Tonya Pfaff said during a committee hearing.
“Part of those degree programs is the ability to take singular classes out of those degree programs, which I believe makes a student more well-founded and better equipped to handle the diversity of the future careers that we will be offering,” she said.
The bill would align with broader higher education review efforts in the state, including the Indiana Commission for Higher Education’s recent efforts to eliminate or consolidate hundreds of low-enrollment degree programs across the state, The College Fix previously reported.
The proposal also follows new federal efforts to alert students to low post-graduation earnings.
Beginning in December, the U.S. Department of Education began warning first-year undergraduate students if a school has low graduate earnings as part of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid process.
As students complete the application and indicate the colleges they are considering, the form now displays financial data for each school they select. It issues a “lower earnings” warning if a school’s graduates earn less on average than high school graduates.
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