Southern Oregon University plan would cut 3 majors, roughly 66 jobs

Dive Brief:

Southern Oregon University’s leaders released a plan this week that would cut the equivalent of roughly 66 full-time jobs, eliminate three undergraduate programs and overhaul the public institution’s academic operations.
The plan is required for SOU to obtain a one-time $15 million infusion from the Oregon Legislature to stabilize its finances. Lawmakers approved the lifeline earlier this year but also directed SOU to provide a balanced budget for the 2027-29 biennium, among other requirements.
Leaders expect the job cuts, program eliminations and operational changes to save SOU around $12 million annually. SOU’s governing board plans to vote on the proposal Thursday.

Dive Insight:

SOU officials argued that the university’s financial crisis was also “an identity crisis.” In their report, they wrote that SOU must become “undeniably distinctive” to adapt to a rapidly shifting higher education landscape, pointing to diminished public funding, the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and a shrinking pool of traditional-age students.

“Institutions that try to compete on the old terms of broader programs, more buildings, and marginal cost advantages will lose,” the report states.

SOU’s plan calls for eliminating three undergraduate degree programs: human service, music industry and production, and financial mathematics. The university will also move from having multiple deans overseeing the faculty to just one — a move officials framed as a way to encourage more collaboration among departments.

“This is the administrative expression of the principle to eliminate structural silos that organize the academic portfolio: a leaner, flatter structure that realizes meaningful salary savings, clarifies lines of communication, and allows the institution to design, update, and pivot programs with the speed that the current moment demands,” the report states.

Additionally, the university plan calls for eliminating a handful of staff positions across student services, over a dozen administrator jobs and other roles. It would also end certain software contracts and have the athletics department be financially self-sustaining by fiscal 2029.

However, SOU employees voiced concerns Tuesday during a community meeting that the proposed cuts would weaken the university, which has already faced a series of job eliminations and belt-tightening moves in the past few years.

“Any more losses is likely to start a cascading event for enrollment,” Tom Fagerholm, a theater professor, said at the meeting, according to Jefferson Public Radio, which is operated by SOU.

Over recommendations from outside financial consultants, the plan would continue to financially support JPR, including by paying for its broadcast licenses. However, all of JPR’s new hires would be funded by the public radio network's foundation, along with a large portion of its executive director's compensation.

SOU has experienced painful enrollment losses over the past decade.

The university enrolled 5,113 students in fall 2024, down 14.1% compared to 10 years ago, according to federal data. Full-time enrollment suffered even steeper losses, dropping to 3,209 students in fall 2025, down 22% from nine years ago, SOU said in the report.

During that time, university spending grew at an average rate of 4.9% each year due to rising retirement benefits and healthcare costs for employees. Meanwhile, institution revenues inched up an average of less than 1% annually.

Those issues came to a head in the 2023-24 academic year, when SOU cut the equivalent of nearly 82 full-time jobs — 13% of its total workforce — through layoffs, voluntary buyouts and retirements, and the elimination of empty positions.

But just two years later, when budgetary issues mounted again, SOU declared financial exigency, a process that allows institutions to more easily lay off tenured employees. This round of cuts led the university to eliminate 23 programs and the equivalent of another 70 full-time roles.

Yet those efforts still weren’t enough to prevent SOU’s latest crisis. In February, university officials shared projections with the board showing that SOU could fail to meet its financial obligations by next spring. State lawmakers passed a bill to help the university stave off the crisis shortly after that board meeting.

If SOU’s board approves the new plan, the three rounds of cuts will amount to a total reduction of nearly 218 roles, including roughly 78 faculty positions, according to the report.