KANSAS CITY, Mo. — William Jewell College in Liberty is using a combination of cutbacks to majors and reductions in employees to help navigate financial struggles at the school.
In a letter sent earlier this month to the Cardinal community, the college shared recommendations made by the Financial Exigency Management Committee.
READ | Letter sent to Cardinal community
The recommendations, approved by the Board of Trustees in late January, were “made with a strategic focus on ensuring relevance and maintaining excellence for students, employers and the community long into the future,” the letter stated.
As part of the recommendations, majors will be organized into five divisions:
- Business and Communication
- Behavioral and Natural Sciences
- Analytical Science
- Community Engagement and Applied Arts
- Culture Society and Justice
Majors that will be cut include nonprofit leadership, healthcare leadership, integrated healthcare, theatre and musical theatre.
Cuts will also eliminate the Honors Institute, Cardinal Sound athletic band and French language courses.
“For students with majors being discontinued, teach-out planning is underway to ensure currently enrolled students can complete their major as planned,” the letter stated.
All scholarships, majors, courses and athletics programs will continue ”as planned” through the spring 2025 semester. An athletics task force is working to create a “new vision” by the end of the academic year.
Faculty and staff were also affected by the financial struggles. Fourteen faculty and 18 staff were let go.
The college said despite 13 retirements and resignations as well as savings from unfilled positions, employee cuts were “necessary as part of the reorganization.”
"With expense savings established before January and the full implementation of the FEMC recommendations, Jewell has identified 95 percent of the college-wide goal of $7 million in reductions ahead of 2025-26," the letter explained. "We will seek to improve the structural deficit another $5 million through improved net tuition revenue, and additional expense management initiatives over the course of the next academic year."
As the college continues to “Reimagine Jewell,” it is calling on alumni to support the initiative through ideas, time and donations.
More information on the financial initiative can be found here.
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