PHILADELPHIA — The state university system will suspend, discontinue or merge dozens of degree programs that are under-enrolled across its 14 campuses, officials said Wednesday.

The bachelor's and master's programs being culled by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education cut across disciplines, from foreign languages to physics. Fifteen are being discontinued and at least 55 others placed in moratorium, meaning no new students will be accepted.

Students currently enrolled in those majors — including incoming freshmen — will be able to finish their degrees, system officials said.

The changes, which take effect this fall, follow a months-long review of about 185 degree programs, said Jim Moran, vice chancellor for academic and student affairs. Officials decided to revisit or continue at least 110 other programs.

"There were not automatic decisions," Moran told The Associated Press. "These were really decisions that involved analysis and judgment."

Faculty members are concerned the reforms will lead to job losses and fewer academic options for students, said Stephen Hicks, president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties.

"We're disappointed with the shortsightedness of some of the thinking on this," Hicks said.

The system, which serves 117,000 students, is facing a potential loss of $38 million in federal stimulus money in the next fiscal year.

"The fiscal impact was not the overarching purpose of it," said Karen Ball, vice chancellor for external relations. "The primary purpose is to make sure we're serving our students and keeping our course offerings relevant for them."

System spokesman Kenn Marshall said it is too soon to tell whether staffing levels will be affected but noted that some affected subjects are still needed for general education requirements or other majors.

Moran noted some degree programs might be combined across campuses, such as the master's degree in social work offered jointly by Shippensburg and Millersville universities: Students at each campus take half their classes in person and half via distance learning.

Yet that collaborative model has yet to be applied on a large scale, Hicks said. Faculty members question how subjects that require hands-on experiments or conversations, like physics and foreign languages, could be administered effectively across campuses, he said.

Hicks also said the benchmark for reviewing programs — 30 or fewer graduates in the past five years — was inappropriate because the system's largest campuses have thousands more students than the smallest ones.

The state system schools are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester universities.