As Owls braced for the beginning of the spring semester, some were confused and stressed, as they were notified courses they had scheduled could no longer run, some of which were graduation requirements.
Senior and Student Body President Mary Ronning said she was reached out to via the student government Instagram page about one history course and two early childhood education courses cut about a week before students came back to campus.
“I was told the history class had one student in it and that the early childhood [courses] between the two sections had three students registered total,” Ronning said.
Ronning said when courses are under-enrolled, it is not economically sustainable for the college to run them. Still, the main issue in these cases was the lack of communication from relevant departments on campus about the cuts, according to Ronning.
“The main problem that caused a lot of panic was the timeline in which they were canceled because obviously, two or three days before everyone comes back to campus after winter break, that’s a very alarming thing, especially if it’s a major-specific class that’s only offered every spring semester,” Ronning said.
As for solutions, the students affected were given independent studies and course-equivalent work to make up for the missed credit and they are still expected to graduate on time.
“The faculty that are taking on those students are being compensated for the extra work they’re doing,” Ronning said.
Kirsti Sandy, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said courses may remain available for extended periods despite low enrollment in hopes more students will add it to their schedules.
“If we have reason to think there might be a few who pick it up, like transfer students we’re expecting who don’t end up panning out, or a few students who say they want to take it but they end up not registering or taking a leave of absence themselves, then we’re kind of stuck,” Sandy said.
Sometimes if two separate sections of the same course are under-enrolled, the college will merge the sections in an effort to run the course, according to Sandy. In these cases, however, the numbers were simply too low.
As for course-cutting notifications, Sandy said the college currently lacks a policy mandating a certain amount of notice be given to students when it is done.
“Maybe that’s something we can think about,” Sandy said. “We don’t have a set policy, and there’s not a consistent policy that all schools follow and that’s why if we were to institute it, we would have to talk about what makes sense for us,” she added.
However, the history and early childhood education courses were not the only ones cut this semester.
William McColloch, president of the KSC Education Association, stated in an email to The Equinox he was aware of several cuts, particularly relating to courses taught by adjunct faculty.
“As you might suspect, these decisions are related to cost containment,” McColloch stated.
The Equinox previously reported KSC has an Operating Margin Deficit of $361,000 according to final fiscal year 2024 numbers.
Vice President for Finance and Administration Nathalie Houder previously said the college is committed to breaking even on its deficit by fiscal year 2026.
McColloch added that some courses taught by full-time faculty were also cut, but noted this was not due to budgetary concerns and declined to share more information in the interest of privacy.
President of the KSC Adjunct Association (KSCAA) Michael McCarthy said adjunct faculty are typically targeted in cuts because of how little they already get paid for the courses they do teach.
“The problem is all based in debt, that’s why they cancel [courses]. They’re trying to save money, but when they cancel an adjunct’s class, they’re canceling probably the cheapest paid class they could be teaching,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said his salary in particular could be paid for by the tuition of only two to three students.
He added New Hampshire’s lack of a broad-based tax eliminates several funding streams for higher education in the state and causes colleges like KSC to be in a position where they have to make cuts.
“We [N.H.] make a lot of our money off of sin taxes; gambling, cigarettes and alcohol is not exactly a way to promote a healthy population,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said he was also unsure if independent studies are truly equivalent in worth to a canceled course section.
“If you pick up an independent study, or if the professor is willing to do that when the class was canceled but you’re not getting the class experience, that’s a big piece,” McCarthy said.
He also detailed unresponsiveness to the KSCAA’s demands during the most recent contract negotiation process.
“We just finished negotiating a contract this summer, and we gave back some things we didn’t get … When we asked for just a little bit more than what they were offering, they came with an offer of less and so we took what they offered first,” McCarthy said.
Going forward, McCarthy said he does not anticipate the issue of course cancellations to improve until systemic change is implemented within the state.
“They [students] need to know that their major and the classes they’re planning to take are going to exist and the only way that’s going to happen is if the state wakes up and realizes the only people who really want to move to New Hampshire are people who don’t have enough money and don’t want to pay any taxes,” McCarthy said.
Nathan Hope can be contacted at
nhope@kscequinox.com
Parker Bartlett can be contacted at
pbartlett@kscequinox.com
