Universities announce layoffs, as the university officials oppose consolidation plan

Some public universities in Ohio plan to lay off employees as part of a cost-cutting move, but at least one is giving the idea of consolidation the cold shoulder.

Kent State University plans to lay off as many as 45 of its employees due to an $18 million deficit in the university’s next fiscal year, which begins on July 1. Central State University expects to lay off many of its employees to avoid financial ruin, according to 91.3 WYSO.

KSU President Todd Diacon told the Akron Beacon Journal that approximately 1.3% of people will lose their jobs, adding that those who will lose their positions will “receive notices sometime in May” and be eligible for 90 days of severance pay.

“If you’re one of those employees who receives that notice, that’s 100% of your world,” he told the Akron newspaper. “So let’s just all be very mindful of the impact of those cuts on very real people.”

Diacon also said that the university will eliminate certain contracts and unfilled positions, and reduce travel expenses to avoid further financial problems, per the Akron report.

Kent State spokeswoman Emily Vincent told the newspaper via email that the board hasn’t yet received the fiscal 2026-27 budget, adding that the board, which meets quarterly, will meet on May 20.

“We cannot spend more money than we bring in as revenue,” Diacon said, adding that while the university has money saved in a bank, he doesn’t want to use it unless there is no other way out, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. Diacon said that dipping into the balance budgets is a short-term solution, not a long-term one.

“If you have a structural deficit and you don’t correct it, it’s just going to get worse and bigger and grow exponentially,” he said, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. “We rely on the interest from that savings to fund about $14 million for us.”

Deacon previously criticized Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s proposal to consolidate Ohio colleges and universities, which was published in the Akron Beacon Journal. Ramaswamy has called the Ohio higher public education system “one of the most fragmented” systems in the country, saying it spends taxpayers’ money “across too many bloated bureaucracies.”

Deacon wrote in a piece on the university’s website that “the public university system in Ohio wasn’t assembled carelessly” and that “it was built by elected leaders responding to real public demand.”

“This was not a waste,” he wrote, referring to former Republican Gov. James Rhodes ensuring that every Ohioan would have access to a public university within 30 miles of their home. “This was Ohio investing in itself.”

Deacon also invited Ramaswamy and others who support his proposal to visit the university so he could make the case against the consolidation plan.

In an op-ed that ran in The Columbus Dispatch and the Akron Beacon Journal, Ramaswamy cited Georgia’s efforts to consolidate its university system. He said his first budget would include a proposal for the chancellor of higher education “to conduct a statewide review, guided by clear statutory criteria, not backroom favoritism.”

“It will identify where missions overlap, where enrollment collapse has made independence untenable, and where administrative functions can be unified without harming students,” Ramaswamy wrote. “The chancellor will then return to the General Assembly with a concrete plan on a fixed timeline.

“Critics will say this threatens campus identity. This is an understandable concern, but it does not justify inaction,” Ramaswamy added. “Georgia’s experience shows that campuses and local identities need not vanish, even if excess overhead costs do. A campus can keep its traditions and its local role without carrying the full cost of an outdated administrative hierarchy. The purpose of a university isn’t to sustain a legacy bureaucracy; it’s to educate students. When the structure stops serving that mission, the structure should change in a positive way.”

The news follows a move by KSU to eliminate 19 majors to comply with Senate Bill 1, signed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. Other universities all around the state complied with the new law as well, and the bill’s architect recently told Ohio.News that the new law is generally working as intended.

Private colleges and universities in the Buckeye State also feel the financial pinch, with The College of Wooster and Wittenberg University laying off people, too, according to Ideastream Public Media and The Springfield News-Sun. Lourdes University, a private institution, announced its closure at the 2025-26 academic year.