Mississippi's state auditor has proposed cutting funding to degree programs at public universities that his office says lead to fewer graduates finding jobs in the state.
In a report released Wednesday, State Auditor Shad White proposed curbing taxpayer funding to college degree programs such as anthropology, African American studies and women and gender studies that "produced graduates who were not paid well and did not usually work in Mississippi after leaving college."
Instead, in an effort to stem Mississippi's labor shortage and brain drain, the report recommends funding for degree programs should be considered alongside the state's workforce needs.
"Some programs—like Women's Studies, African American/Black Studies, German Language and Literature—placed so few graduates in Mississippi jobs that analysts could not calculate a statistically significant median salary for those graduates," the report states. "Yet the state invests just as much, per student, in these programs as in Electrical Engineering or Registered Nurse programs."
Graduating more students from high-paying degree programs "and then retaining even a small number of them would inject millions of additional dollars into Mississippi's economy," the report states.
The auditor's analysis used data obtained from state schools and the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.
Of the degree fields examined, those graduating with health care-related or education degrees were more likely to work in Mississippi and earn more money than graduates in general fields, according to the report.
In a series of posts on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, White reiterated his office's position, writing in one post, "Degrees in garbage fields are also bad for the economy" because "they produce graduates who offer no real skills."
"By all means, go take that Latinx Environmental Justice class in Urban Studies. Just don't ask taxpayers to pay for it," he wrote in the post.
The state auditor's report concludes by urging Mississippi state leaders to consider reallocating funding to public colleges and universities to address the state's brain drain.
"The Legislature should create a study committee of workforce experts ... to outline the most- and least-needed programs and design a university funding structure with this in mind."
