Odifure Udegbe walked the stage Friday to a chorus of whoops and hollers as he received his Master of Science degree from the University of Denver.

Originally from Nigeria, Udegbe said he enrolled at DU to make himself more competitive in a tough job market.

“I think whoever is going to take a chance on me has everything to win,” Udegbe said.

The new grad was among the more than 3,400 undergraduate and graduate students who accepted their diplomas last weekend at DU — marking what Provost Elizabeth Loboa called the end of the university’s pandemic-era enrollment boom.

Peaking at 14,130 students in the fall of 2021, DU enrollment has declined for four consecutive years, falling to 11,499 students in 2025, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. The drop effectively erased all the enrollment gains during a growth surge that began before the pandemic and accelerated through 2021.

Much of the growth — enrollment data shows — was among students seeking a graduate degree.

Loboa said graduate enrollment surged during the pandemic, a trend often seen during economic downturns, as workers return to school to improve their credentials and future job prospects.

While overall enrollment has dropped about 19% over the past five years, those seeking a master’s degree saw a staggering drop of about 38%.

When projections for next fiscal year showed a shortfall of up to $40 million, administrators knew they had to be proactive, Loboa said.

Last week, the university announced a restructure that would see the closure of the Religious Studies and Electrical and Computer Engineering departments.

Officials said students will still be able to earn degrees in those fields. The programs are being folded into larger departments rather than eliminated.

The university will also merge the Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science with the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The Graduate School of Professional Psychology will be reorganized within the Morgridge College of Education and the Graduate School of Social Work.

“We are transforming how we now set up our colleges and schools,” Loboa said.

The move — Loboa said — is about “leaning into the future.”

“It’s just about pivoting, being flexible and nimble and planning for the future,” she said.

Fewer academic units (colleges and schools) mean a cost savings for a leaner university with fewer administrative positions.

“For a university of our size, it is financially inefficient to have so many colleges and schools, each with their own dean and administrative staff, particularly as we adjust to smaller incoming undergraduate and graduate classes,” Loboa wrote in a letter to faculty and staff.

DU has 10 colleges and a number of academic programs.

Officials said that as many as two dozen faculty could be affected by the changes.

Loboa also said the university expects to realize some savings through attrition. About 90 faculty members are expected to retire or otherwise leave the university during the next three years, creating opportunities to realign programs and staffing without replacing every position.

Additionally, the faculty in three other departments — Philosophy; Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies; and Socio-Legal Studies — had voted to close their departments, said Sarah Watamura, president of the DU Faculty Senate.

“I think everybody can see the pressures that we and lots of other schools are facing,” said Watamura, a psychology professor.

Still, Watamura said many faculty members are taking a wait-and-see approach as the changes are implemented.

The Faculty Senate is the elected body that represents professors in university decision-making.

Founded in 1864, the University of Denver is Colorado’s oldest private university and one of the state’s few top-tier research institutions.

What’s happening at DU is part of a broader challenge facing higher education.

Colleges and universities across the United States are grappling with what has become known as the “enrollment cliff” — a long-anticipated decline in the number of traditional college-age students driven by falling birth rates following the Great Recession.

The number of graduating high school seniors is expected to steadily decline over the next 15 years, with the nation expected to see a 13% drop from a 2025 peak, according to projections by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.

In explaining the decision, Loboa acknowledged that DU and other universities have previously enjoyed “robust waitlists” with little reason to aggressively pursue students.

The new realities will likely change that, as colleges and universities compete for a smaller pool of students.

Nearly 50 colleges have closed or announced closures and another 40 have merged since 2020, according to tracking by BestColleges. At least a dozen merged or closed in 2025 alone primarily because of declining enrollment and financial pressures.