New Colleges and Strategic Reinvestment Plan

Editor's Note: The following message was sent to USU students on July 17, 2025.

Dear Students,

As you may know, we are in the process of finalizing Utah State University’s strategic reinvestment plan in compliance with HB 265, passed by the Utah State Legislature during the 2025 session.

This bill requires that we cut over $12.6 million from our instruction budget, primarily from programs with low enrollment or limited workforce demand. We can get those funds back if we receive approval on a plan to reallocate funding into high-growth, high-demand programs that align with workforce needs.In developing USU’s draft plan, students have remained at the forefront of our decision-making process. Though our plan is not final, this is what you need to know now:

• Proposed programmatic cuts in our current plan will affect just under 250 students in 36 programs, including graduate degrees and degree emphases and concentrations. Most who are in affected programs will be able to finish them. HB 265 allows USU to teach out students in the affected programs over the next one to two years to minimize the impact. We are working to notify those who are affected before fall semester begins. If you have any questions about the impacts of potential cuts, please reach out to your academic advisor.
• If you are in either of the new College of Arts & Sciences or the S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, you will hear more from your college leadership about exciting changes and new opportunities tied to the college mergers.
• USU will send you information about upcoming changes through your official USU email address. Please check this email frequently.

As we have made decisions associated with HB 265, we have shared them on our strategic reinvestment website. Please visit usu.edu/president/reinvestment to learn more and find any future updates.

We look forward to supporting you and amplifying your academic opportunities over this strategic reinvestment process. As always, I wish you every success in your academic endeavors. Go Aggies!

Sincerely,

Alan L. Smith

Interim President