Robert Morris University Cutting Employees, Eliminating One School
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MOON TOWNSHIP (KDKA) - Robert Morris University has announced that it is reorganizing it's five academic schools and cutting administrative staff.
"We are merging five academic schools into four, which means we are not eliminating degree programs, we're not cutting faculty, so it's not impacting academic offerings for our students," said Robert Morris University spokesperson Jonathan Potts. "But we will realize some savings in administrative costs, and we are, unfortunately, going to be doing a university-wide administrative restructuring."
RMU will save $4-5 million dollars, necessary when many universities are losing students.
"Pennsylvania is seeing a decline in the number of college-bound high school graduates, down about 14% percent since 2010," said Potts.
Americans are just not having enough children, a demographic problem for almost every college.
"It's particularly pronounced in New England, the Northeast and the Midwest," says Ohio University economics Prof. Emeritus Richard Vedder. "It's gotten to the point that a number of colleges have actually announced closings."
Ohio University economics professor Emeritus Richard Vedder writes on enrollment and says population stagnation is only one of the problems.
"It's become pretty pricey to go to college, and the return on the college investment is becoming in the eyes of potential students at least somewhat more risky, somewhat more problematic," said Vedder.
Certified trade schools can lead to six-figure salaries without so much student debt. Another problem, international students are not coming to America.
"The decline in international students has definitely been an impact," said Potts. "Approximately 10 to 12 perfect of our student body is international."
Robert Morris is not alone, some schools report stagnant or declining enrollment, although schools like Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh still get more applicants than they accept,
But as for future students everywhere, "We're at a historic low," said Vedder.
