Ten Percent of Undergraduate Physics Programs Eliminated in the United States: A Retrospective Analysis

More than 70 physics bachelor's degree granting programs in the United States have been eliminated since the start of the Great Recession in 2007, representing a decline of approximately 10%. Despite physics graduation rates reaching a record high in 2020, at least 50 program closures have since occurred. Undergraduate physics education historically relied upon a distributed system where undergraduate-only programs granted around 40% of all bachelor's degrees, but this has begun to decline in recent years [Nicholson and Mulvey, AIP Statistics 2025, DOI: 10.1063/sr.29a280f5e4]. This talk presents a detailed statistical analysis of enrollment and financial trends at these institutions based on publicly available data from the American Institute of Physics and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. As higher education faces the so-called 'demographic-cliff' with projected enrollment drops in the coming years, this work highlights the need for physics educators and researchers to carefully assess and adapt to the financial environment of higher education in the United States.