Amid declining enrollment and a multiyear structural deficit, the University of Baltimore is consolidating programs and eliminating separate majors for history and English.

The changes by the university were announced Thursday afternoon at this year’s formal welcoming ceremony to kick off the new academic year.

The university, with about 3,200 students in the city’s Mount Vernon neighborhood, is eliminating separate majors for legal studies, philosophy, law and ethics, and history, combining all three to form a new major called “law, philosophy and history.” A new “multimedia storytelling” major will replace digital communications and English.

The century-old university is also planning to phase out graduate degree programs in health management and administration, nonprofit management, and social entrepreneurship within the next four years. It will continue to offer certificates in health systems management and nonprofit leadership.

Ralph Mueller, the university’s provost, said during the announcement that the changes were made with “humility, gratitude and the recognition of serious programmatic and personnel implications.”

Enrollment at the university has decreased by nearly 50% in the last 10 years, from 6,422 to 3,232, and the number of undergraduates has dropped by more than half, to 1,477, according to statistics from the University System of Maryland.

After the state mandated a 10% cut in appropriations to each of the institutions in the University System of Maryland, the impact on the University of Baltimore was “particularly difficult,” Mueller told the room of about 100 people.

As a result, the university this summer eliminated more than a dozen vacant faculty and 21 vacant staff positions, according to a university email sent to faculty and staff on July 23. In addition, nine employees were laid off and two more did not have their contracts renewed.

Those cuts saved the university $6.3 million, said the university’s chief financial officer, Barbara Aughenbaugh, during in an internal webinar for employees last month.

The university has about 850 faculty and staff, according to its parent system. Aughenbaugh added that the university will likely eliminate more vacant positions during the upcoming academic year.

Boosting enrollment is the best way to fix the university’s finances, according to Mueller.

“We must get better at articulating and living our identity distinct from the 20-plus other higher education institutions in the area,” Mueller said. “Younger generations just are not buying it anymore.”

Today, many of the university’s students are “nontraditional,” which usually means older with substantial work experience. It’s unclear, however, whether University of Baltimore will try to increase its enrollment from a traditional pool or try to attract more of these seasoned students.

Hazel Marie Amah, a 65-year-old California native, has lived in Baltimore since 2012. She enjoyed achieving her masters in forensic accounting from the university in 2014, so much so that she’s now back this fall, pursuing an MBA.

“I feel this university gives the opportunity to build people up to address the issues here in Baltimore,” Amah said. “There are so many opportunities that the University of Baltimore offers.”

Michael Smith, 48, is a different kind of nontraditional student. He began studying at UBalt when he was still incarcerated. The Baltimore native has since earned his bachelor’s degree and is now studying for his master’s in nonprofit management.

“University of Baltimore is an anchor institution for sure,” he said, adding he hopes one day to work for City Hall. “It’s been so transformative for me.”

But it may not be for others like him. Smith’s nonprofit management degree program is being phased out.

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