If a major at a college are filled to capacity, what is preferable for the college to do?

[InigoMontoya]

Popularity of a major is not a good criteria to use for making decisions about growth of a department. The size of the department should be based on a consideration of a range of factors, some of which include the societal need-not student interest.

That’s a wonderful idea, but reality is if you can’t fill enough seats to pay for classes, you can’t pay salaries. Schools shouldn’t just chase the popular major, but they do have to consider the ROI of offering declining majors. Personally I agree that societal need should be a factor, but in reality that doesn’t pay the bills.