(Illustration by The Chronicle, ISTOCK Images)

In October 2023, Miami University announced it was considering cutting eighteen of its humanities programs in an attempt to relieve its budget deficit: an announcement that created a campus-wide discourse on the future of our humanities programs.

As a double major in creative writing and diplomacy with minors in French and history, I believe in the value of a humanities education because of the once-in-a-lifetime experiences my education has given me. 

Through my studies, I have been able to study abroad, develop my writing abilities, complete and present research at conferences, attend a Fulbright summer institute, and teach high school students.

There is a general notion that the humanities are specifically being targeted by institutions due to a belief from universities that the humanities are “less valuable” than other spheres of knowledge. 

However, looking at the raw data, the humanities aren’t being targeted for being the humanities, per se. They’re being targeted because students aren’t convinced they can study the humanities and find financial security.

At Miami, campus protests against the elimination and consolidation of low-enrollment majors gathered the attention of dozens of students — more students than are ever enrolled in the majors that are proposed to be cut.

German education, Latin education, French education, critical race and ethnic studies, Spanish education, classical studies, Russian and Eastern European studies, Italian studies, German, and French have less than 42 annual graduates combined — roughly half the number of people in my freshman year geology course.

I have loved the critical race and ethnic studies, classical studies, Russian and Eastern European studies and French courses that I have taken for my majors and minors. In fact, I believe these courses have a unique ability to open students’ minds to new international perspectives and build valuable intercultural communication skills.

However, with some of these majors only producing less than one graduate a year, does it make financial sense for a university — which, at the end of a day, is a business, whether we like it or not — to keep all low enrollment programs “as-is” if students are not being convinced to enroll?

Cutting and combining majors isn’t about whether majors are “good” or “bad” majors. It’s an issue of if students are choosing to enroll in them.

With students not buying into the value of the humanities, universities face low enrollment — a problem that can only be solved by students reframing their perspective of the humanities or a widespread solution to the potential financial burden of a college education.

However, low enrollment isn’t just a humanities department issue. Across the country, universities — especially public rural universities — have struggled with financial deficits and under-enrollment following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The University of Alaska system has been forced to cut forty academic programs, including STEM programs like earth sciences and environmental resources. At Missouri Western State, English, history, philosophy, and even political science programs have faced devastating eliminations. 

Medical schools have seen a decline in applications for two years straight as students question their ability to pay off nearly a decade of school debt for a doctor’s education. 

Nationally, college enrollment is down 8% from 2019 to 2022: a decrease in revenue that has universities facing impossible decisions.

The decline in enrollment is a symptom of a greater distrust in the value of a college education. From mass layoffs in tech to student loan debt crippling a generation of Americans, even traditionally “safe” college routes have riddled graduates with job instability and difficult monthly loan payments.

It is easy to understand why students are afraid of taking on student loan debt: the system of student loans is predatory and financially stunts adults from buying homes and saving for retirement.

However, studies still point to the value of a college education and the value of a humanities education. 

From a financial perspective, college graduates with degrees in the humanities make, on average, over 41% more than high school graduates. A study by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences shows that 87% of humanities graduates are happy with their jobs, and less than three percent were unemployed in 2015 — outcomes that rival those of STEM majors. 

In fact, any earnings advantages STEM majors have over humanities majors generally fade by age 40, the New York Times found. This is largely because the technical skills obtained through STEM degrees can become less relevant as jobs demand new coding languages or computer knowledge, while English skills from college degrees can make graduates generalists as they elevate to upper-management positions. 

Additionally, humanities isn’t the “dying” field that critics may dismiss it to be. As far as job availability, positions for writers, artists, designers, historians, interpreters, and translators are all expected to grow 4% — as fast as the average job field in the U.S., according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

Of course, the benefits of a humanities degree extend far beyond mere financial gain. Humanities degrees pass on art and literary traditions, preserve language and history, and prepare graduates to critically analyze the world with a global perspective. 

In an increasingly specialized academic environment, generalists in the humanities who can adapt their skills to many fields can be in a competitive job market. 

For English majors, the post-graduate options are vastly diverse: law, teaching, editing, communications, marketing, consulting, writing — the major offers soft skills that can be applied to a variety of professional settings. The 6.8% of English majors who go on to be lawyers, judges, and magistrates earn well over six figures.

So, why do Americans keep pretending that a major in the humanities is a financial death sentence?

Being a humanities major offers a less-defined job path than other majors. For engineering or accounting majors, for instance, the major directly translates to a specific job. Odds are, if someone majors in chemical engineering, they’re probably working in chemical engineering someday.

To fix the humanities crisis, it’s not about convincing universities of the value of the humanities. Professors know how valuable it is for students to learn languages, religions, histories, and cultures. It’s about convincing their customers: students.

Rather than pushing every smart student to be an engineer or computer science major, high school students should be encouraged to pursue equally-valuable careers in the humanities. Students need to be convinced that their humanities education can help them make real-world change and build their thinking skills — and find a job, too.

Colleges need to focus on recruiting the next generation of humanities thinkers. Show high school students interested in humanities that there is a future in the humanities for them. 

Colleges already do this model with student-athletes: they appear at sporting events and recruit students to encourage them to further pursue their sport. Why don’t they do this with students in the humanities to ensure their programs stay filled?

As a summer instructor of Miami’s free high school humanities program, Student Citizens, I have seen how programs like Summer Scholars can encourage students to see futures in the humanities — nearly all the students in the program I assistant-taught ended up enrolling at Miami University. While not all of them pursued degrees in the humanities, the program still helped students find interest and value in a college education.

For students who are looking for more career-focused degrees, emphasizing the career benefits of a humanities degree is a recruitment strategy that can inspire more students to follow their interests in the humanities.

The humanities aren’t dying, but they’re changing as the culture of higher education is changing. It is up to both students and university administrators to ensure that the future of higher education has a place for the humanities.