{"id":302914,"date":"2026-05-21T12:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T12:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/302914\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T12:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T12:46:08","slug":"texas-university-shakes-up-admissions-and-curriculum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/302914\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas university shakes up admissions and curriculum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chron.com\/news\/houston-texas\/education\/article\/ut-system-regents-21361306.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Texas university<\/a> is overhauling its academic portfolio, suspending admissions to some programs while merging and consolidating others. It&#8217;s the latest in a series of such moves that has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chron.com\/texas\/article\/most-expensive-texas-universities-cost-22249287.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">affected multiple universities<\/a> in the state and nationwide.<\/p>\n<p>Back in February, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opencampus.org\/2026\/02\/03\/uta-identifies-degree-programs-for-possible-cuts-through-academic-review-process\/\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Open Campus reported<\/a> the University of Texas at Arlington had been conducting an audit of its undergraduate and master&#8217;s degrees. UTA representative Jeff Caplan told the outlet the school was trying to ensure its offerings were matching the demands of students, Texas&#8217; workforce, and the school&#8217;s &#8220;long-term sustainability.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>On May 8, UTA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uta.edu\/administration\/committees\/academic-programs-update-5-8-26\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">publicly announced<\/a> its intentions to suspend new admissions to five of its programs and merge &#8220;overlapping degree pathways&#8221; into single programs. The following programs are suspending new admissions as of Aug. 1:<\/p>\n<p>Anthropology and Materials Science, according to UTA, are undergoing a curriculum &#8220;reimagining,&#8221; likely meaning that the courses will be merged into another program or that the program will transform into something broader. That will also be revealed Aug. 1.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, UTA is &#8220;consolidating overlapping degree pathways&#8221; into single programs, effective Aug. 1.<\/p>\n<p>According to UTA, the specialized programming in mathematics and theater arts will be retained as a track rather than a standalone degree. All told, the above changes, again according to the university, will affect &#8220;less than 200&#8221; students.<\/p>\n<p>UTA&#8217;s reorganization is taking place against statewide and nationwide backdrops. Earlier this year, state funding cuts and a sharp decline in international enrollment fueled the University of North Texas&#8217; decision to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/03\/20\/university-north-texas-deficit-program-cuts\/\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">cut and consolidate<\/a> more than 70 academic programs in order to close a projected $45 million budget shortfall. Texas A&amp;M is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/news\/houston-texas\/education\/article\/texas-a-m-pause-enrollment-growth-college-station-20053886.php\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">pausing undergraduate<\/a> enrollment growth for several years at its main campus to develop the infrastructure needed to support a growing student body.<\/p>\n<p>The University of Texas at Austin is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/oct\/17\/university-of-texas-cuts-liberal-arts\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">facing a different problem<\/a>: Liberal arts staff at the flagship school have grown increasingly concerned that they&#8217;ll be axed as the government cracks down on &#8220;DEI&#8221; and &#8220;woke&#8221; programming. Courses at risk include African, Mexican and gender studies.<\/p>\n<p>Across the country, there is also a bigger concern. The number of high school graduates is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.highereddive.com\/news\/demographic-cliff-colleges-closures-retention-attendance-diversity-wiche\/743636\/\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">expected to decline<\/a>. According to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, the grim forecast is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.highereddive.com\/news\/decline-high-school-graduates-demographic-cliff-wiche-charts\/738281\/\" data-link=\"native\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">fueled by declining birth rates<\/a> and other demographic shifts. That&#8217;s less 18-year-olds, less students enrolling in college and, possibly, less colleges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Texas university is overhauling its academic portfolio, suspending admissions to some programs while merging and consolidating others.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16470,103082,1836,1704,85744,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-302914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-chroncollege","tag-chroneducation","tag-chronnews","tag-chronstaff","tag-chrontexas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}