Enrollment in the English major at this university is declining, frustrating officials and students who wish to improve the arts and humanities college’s resources.
The population of English majors at this university has decreased by about 40 percent in a three-year span, according to a recent report on Inside Higher Ed. According to the data featured on the report, this university’s English department lost 88 students during the spring 2012 semester, 79 students in 2013 and 128 more a year later.
Arts and humanities dean Bonnie Thornton Dill said there was a steady annual increase in arts and humanities students between 2001 and 2010.
However, in 2012, a noticeable decline began, with the college’s enrollment shrinking 18 percent in three years.
“It is difficult to know precisely which factors contribute to these declines, but there seems to be a perception among some students and their families that the employment prospects for humanities majors are not as great as some other fields,” Dill said. “A number of studies have shown that the job prospects for humanities majors are at least as good as for other fields.”
Sarah Feeney, president of the English Undergraduate Association, said she thinks some of the factors hurting the English department’s enrollment have to do with the marketing of the English major and of arts and humanities programs as a whole.
“For so long, every time I have mentioned my fields of study, the first response is almost always, ‘Oh, so you want to be a teacher?’” the senior English and history major said. “If I’m not asked about teaching, it’s, ‘What are you going to do with that?’”
Feeney said students can do many things with an arts and humanities degree, but the problem with enrollment is that students “have no idea” how much they can do with a degree like English, including communications, book publishing and law.
“We constantly hear about growing career fields like engineering and biochemistry, and whenever a large donation is made to the university, it always seems to be intended to fund a new lab or computer science building,” she said. “Students hear over and over about these jobs that will instantly turn them into millionaires, but that’s if they can get the job in the first place. If they can’t write or properly communicate to those outside or even within their field, they fail.”
Brittany Brown, a junior English major and African Diaspora Reading Group president, said she thinks economic issues discourage enrollment.
“There is a stigma over the humanities and liberal arts that English is not challenging or a waste of time,” Brown said. “As an English major, I know the time I take reading and rereading texts, writing papers, using intellectual skill. English can be just as challenging.”
Dill said the arts and humanities college is analyzing trends to better assess the factors contributing to this decline in enrollment. Additionally, she said, the college is investing in more career services by launching an arts and humanities-focused career office and working to increase scholarship aid.
CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this story misstated the percentage decline in the arts and humanities college enrollment. This article has been updated to reflect the correction.
