Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon's public universities are seeing more students and less money. Facing a budget shortfall, Oregon State University has said it will cut its Italian department and other foreign language programs.

And that's not all. Ethan Lindsey reports.

The money crunch has forced Oregon State to think strategically about budget priorities.

Or so says Patrick Emerson, a professor of economics at OSU.

Which is why Emerson was surprised when he found out the university was changing its economics PhD program.

Patrick Emerson: “It's shocking to me quite frankly. Economics is a very hot field right now, both in terms of the public aspect of it - the Freakonomics aspect if you will. But also, it's a very popular very major across the country in very prestigious schools.”

Emerson says the PhD program will lose some of its prestige as it shifts away from educating aspiring professors.

Instead, he says the 'applied economics' degree will focus on training business and government workers.

Oregon State's college of liberal arts says it only offers three PhD programs: applied economics, applied anthropology, and the history of science.