Bigger class sizes, fewer departments and reduced choice for students could become the norm in the US as the sector adapts to a harsher funding environment under president Donald Trump.

The University of Oregon announced more layoffs last week, having lost 42 positions within its College of Arts and Sciences in June, with the language department?bearing the brunt of the cutbacks.

Course closures and mergers also appear likely at the University of Nebraska, which is seeking to save $27.5 million (?20.4 million) from its operating budget. In addition, the University of Chicago is cutting back admissions in some PhD programmes.

Phillip Levine, professor of economics at?Wellesley College, told?̽»¨ÊÓƵ?that colleges were hurting from direct attacks by the Trump administration, as well as trying to get ahead of expected shortfalls.

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He said the loss of NIH funds is a big issue for all institutions, and that this will be compounded by?international students being put off by the Trump administration¡¯s?policies towards immigration.

¡°There definitely is evidence that some schools were having a hard time even before Trump came along, but Trump certainly didn¡¯t help. Next year will likely be worse as states start cutting funding to publics.¡±

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These latest cuts come after several top institutions ?that they will also have to look at cost-saving measures.

Alongside reduced demand, Paul D¡¯Anieri, professor of political science at the University of California, Riverside, said small class sizes which are expensive to run have caused humanities and languages departments problems for decades.

¡°They always depended on a certain funding environment and the funding environment has changed, but it¡¯s also the case that priorities have changed.

¡°A liberal education is simply not valued the way it was 20 years ago, let alone 50 years ago.¡±

Trump has?had an impact financially because some institutions?know that they will face shortfalls in revenue, he said. But the president has also had a political effect, which D¡¯Anieri likened to ¡°plate tectonics¡±.

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¡°It¡¯s very hard to close programmes in a university, and so I think the pressures have been building up for a long time. Now, politically with the climate change in the country, it¡¯s easier to do.

¡°It¡¯s made it seem less outrageous because our understanding in this country of what¡¯s outrageous and what isn¡¯t has shifted a lot.¡±

D¡¯Anieri said the sector will face a ¡°slow attrition¡± of changes in the next few years ¨C including staff retiring and not being replaced, some languages that stop getting taught, a shrinking curriculum, and some courses moving more towards a model that relies on larger class sizes.

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¡°These things will happen slowly because universities change incredibly slowly, especially when it comes to winding down programmes. It is actually much, much harder to wind these things down than it seems.¡± But in red states?that are now ¡°hostile¡± towards the humanities, entire courses will be discontinued.

Though it did not announce any cuts, the University of Iowa has also started a strategic action plan to enhance ¡°operational efficiency¡±.?

¡°What you¡¯re seeing is both a reaction to some of the short-term consequences of grant cancellations or suspensions, but you¡¯re also seeing clearly universities trying to prepare for a much more uncertain future when it comes to federal funding,¡± added Michael Nietzel, former president of Missouri State University.

The sector was facing other ¡°headwinds¡± as well, including an increase in endowment tax, a?¡°hostile¡± environment for lucrative international students, and a declining public confidence in the merits of higher education, he added.

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Nietzel praised them for ¡°good leadership¡± and for preparing for fiscal uncertainty in a more deliberate way but warned that it will be very difficult for research universities to rebuild expertise once it has been cut.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com