Portland State's announcement that it will lay off 36 employees and close two departments to close a $35 million budget shortfall is the kind of news that lands differently when you're a student. It's not just a headline about administrative moves. It's a reminder that the institutions we're building our lives inside are making hard calls, and sometimes those calls affect people we know, classes we need, or the general feeling that the place we're investing in is steady. The university says the plan is final after months of negotiating with the faculty union, and that's the part that stands out to me. Negotiations don't mean it's fair. They mean people tried to find another way.
This hits close to home for anyone paying attention to higher ed right now. We just saw a survey drop on chief academic officers that's probably full of strategic thinking about how to run a university, and stories about AI policies and campus political controversies that get a lot of attention. But this is the real stuff. This is the part where budgets stop being abstract and start being about whether your favorite department still exists next semester. Heads Up, Cougs: New Academic Officer Survey Drops might give us insight into how leaders are thinking, and Stanford Ad Policy Broken: AI Edits Raise Questions shows that even elite schools are navigating messy decisions. But for most of us, the question is simpler: what does this mean for the education we're actually getting?
Here's my honest take, and it's not doom-and-gloom. It's about being a practical optimist. When a school has to cut this deep, it forces a conversation about what really matters. It's easy to take for granted that your program will be there, that your advisor will have time, that the club you joined will still have funding. When that's not guaranteed, you start paying attention. You start going to the town halls. You start asking questions about where money actually goes. That's not a bad instinct to build, even if the reason for it stings. I'd tell a friend who's worried: don't panic yet, but do get curious. Ask your department what's staying and what's on the line. Check in with your student government. Show up. Not because one meeting fixes a $35 million gap, but because being informed is the only way to make choices that work for you.
The thing to watch here isn't just the layoffs. It's what happens next. Which departments got closed and why. How the faculty who remain are carrying the load. Whether students are going to see bigger class sizes, fewer sections, or longer waits for advising. Those are the small, everyday ways a budget shortfall becomes your problem. So my concrete point is this: if you're at a school facing cuts, or even just watching this from across the state, ask yourself what you'd do if your favorite class got cut next semester. Do you know who to talk to? Do you have a backup plan? That's not pessimism. That's being a responsible Coug. Keyword: responsible.
