JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville University is laying off about 40 faculty members and retiring dozens of tradition-bound majors to focus on newer degrees in high demand, school officials said Tuesday.

The change is meant “to do more of what we do well for our students,” JU President Tim Cost said in a written announcement, describing a transition also intended to help navigate a widely forecast nationwide drop in college admissions.

Students in programs that are ending are being notified in person Tuesday and faculty on Tuesday and Wednesday, Cost said in an interview.

He said only about 100 of the school’s 4,200 students will be “impacted” and that existing students will be able to graduate in their fields. New students won’t be allowed to enroll for those degree programs in the fall.

The 91-year-old Arlington college had boasted more than 100 majors, minors and programs, but JU said that list is being pared back to 37 “in-demand” undergraduate majors and minors and 15 master’s and doctoral degrees.

The offerings will range from nursing and health care science to business administration, psychology, computer science, cybersecurity, marine science, aviation, finance, dance, visual arts and media arts, a JU release said.

The cutbacks won’t include JU’s College of Law or the university’s partnership with the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, which is scheduled to open LECOM at JU, the city’s first four-year medical school, in fall of 2026.

Cost said the university is focusing on fields that can feed graduates into Northeast Florida’s economy with skills that can land good jobs.

Much of JU’s student body already wants those fields, Cost said, with about 1,000 of the school’s 4,200 students enrolled in nursing or health care programs that have flourished during the past decade.

About another 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students are enrolled in 15 fields of study involving humanities, social sciences, education and math that are not affected by the changes.

But, Cost said the school also has “legacy” majors that might only graduate 10 students over four years and are harder to justify financially.

Studies in fields including glassblowing, music composition and world languages reflect courses the university launched a generation or two back.

Cost said the reduced list of majors and departure of some faculty will fit with a JU effort to curb “controllable expenses” by 10% starting this fall.

An “academic financial task force” of deans, administrators and veteran faculty members weighed choices and added input before plans for cutting majors were complete.

“These important academic decisions reflect hundreds of hours of analysis, consideration, debate and discussion among senior University leaders from all departments, including our faculty,” a JU release quoted Provost Sherri Jackson saying of the outcome.

This report was first published by The Florida Times-Union.