Higher education institutions are facing challenging fiscal environments that require an examination of practices from the perspective of efficiency and effectiveness. While many institutions have taken similar approaches to resolving budgetary predicaments, examining the effect of these decisions on students should be one of the first considerations when evaluating a budget cut or shift in educational practice. This chapter explores the impact of extreme cost-cutting in the academy through a lens of dehumanization in an effort to identify the ways in which student learning and success are impacted. The chapter concludes with considerations for those in higher education leadership.