The great migration of computer science (and where students are going instead)

Something unusual is happening on the campuses of the University of California this fall. For the first time since the dot-com crash, computer science enrollment is down. Across the board, it’s down 6% this year after a 3% drop in 2024, according to a report last week by the San Francisco Chronicle. Even though overall college enrollment is up 2% nationally — according to January data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center — students are bailing on traditional CS degrees.

The exception is UC San Diego — the only UC campus to add a dedicated AI major this fall.

All of this may seem like a temporary blip tied to the news about the small number of CS students getting a job out of college. But it may be a sign of the future, one that China welcomes with great enthusiasm. As MIT Technology Review reported last July, Chinese universities are leaning heavily on AI learning, treating AI not as a threat but as an essential infrastructure. About 60% of Chinese students and faculty now use AI tools multiple times every day, and schools such as Zhejiang University have made AI coursework mandatory, while top institutions such as Tsinghua have created new separate AI colleges. In China, speaking well of AI is no longer optional; they are the poles of the table.

US universities are scrambling to catch up. In the past two years, dozens have launched AI-specific programs. MIT’s “AI and decision-making” major is now the second largest on campus, the school said. As reported by the New York Times in December, the University of South Florida enrolled more than 3,000 students in a new AI and cybersecurity college during the fall semester. The University of Buffalo last summer launched a new “AI and Society” department that offers seven specialized graduate programs, and received more than 200 applicants before it opened its doors.

The change has not gone well everywhere. When I spoke with UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Lee Roberts in October, he described a spectrum — some faculty are “leaning forward” with AI, others “with their heads in the sand.” Roberts, a former finance executive who came from outside academia, has been pushing for AI integration despite intellectual resistance. Last week, UNC announced it would merge two schools to create an organization focused on AI — a decision that drew faculty backlash. Roberts also appointed a vice president of AI. “No one is going to say to students when they graduate, ‘Do the best job you can, but if you use AI, you’re going to be in trouble,'” Roberts told me. “However, we have faculty members who are not saying that right now.”

Parents play a role in this rocky transition, too. David Reynaldo, who runs admissions consultancy College Zoom, told the Chronicle that parents who once pushed kids into CS are now directing them toward other majors that seem more resistant to AI automation, including mechanical and electrical engineering.

But enrollment numbers suggest that students are voting with their feet. According to an October survey by the nonprofit Computing Research Association — whose members include computer science departments and computer engineering departments from a wide variety of universities — 62% of respondents reported that their computer programs are seeing undergraduate enrollment decline this fall. But with AI programs ballooning, it looks less like a technological exodus and more like migration. The University of Southern California is launching an AI degree this coming fall; as well as Columbia University, Pace University, and New Mexico State University, among many others. Students are not rejecting technology; they prefer AI-focused programs instead.

It is too soon to say whether this restructuring is permanent or a temporary shock. But it’s certainly a wake-up call for administrators who have spent years struggling with how to handle AI in the classroom. The debate about whether or not ChatGPT is blocked is now a thing of the past. The question now is whether American universities can be fast enough or will they continue to debate what to do while students transfer to schools that already have the answers.