Students considering Washington State University Tri-Cities will have two fewer majors to consider, but judging by enrollment, most Cougs won’t notice what’s missing.

The WSU Board of Regents at its Jan. 23 meeting approved the Richland campus’ proposals to eliminate the four-year degree for hospitality business management as well as the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art degree. Neither program has any students currently enrolled and both will not be available following the 2025-26 academic year.

Richland campus administrators determined the programs should be discontinued following a 2023 review of the university’s academic offerings.

The hospitality management program, offered through WSU’s Carson College of Business, has only graduated six students in the past five years, according to a memo to the Regents. University officials noted a year ago that interest in the degree dropped sharply after the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I can count on one hand the number of students seeking that degree currently,” Kate McAteer, the university’s vice chancellor of academic and student affairs, told the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business at the time.

No students have received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art degree through the College of Arts & Sciences since it was first offered at WSU Tri-Cities in 2017. The art-adjacent Digital Technology & Culture program will continue and students pursuing that degree can continue to take two upper-division art courses as electives to meet graduation requirements.

The decline in interest in the two degrees is not for a lack of students attending WSU Tri-Cities. The campus saw an 8.1% increase in student enrollment in fall 2025 over the previous year, welcoming 1,609 students, and marking a third consecutive year of growth.

First-year enrollment grew by 11.1%, marking the third consecutive year of double-digit growth in this category. First-time graduate student enrollment more than doubled compared to last fall.

2/12/2026 4:30 p.m.: this article was updated to reflect the correct number of enrolled students at WSU Tri-Cities in the fall of 2025.