A new report highlights rising course “shutouts” that block students from required classes and extend time‑to‑degree and cost. Administrators say constrained course availability exacerbates student costs and advising burdens, particularly for high‑demand gateway and major courses. At the same time, leaders and scholars argue the professoriate is being reshaped by automation, budget constraints, and a swollen postdoc pipeline. Institutions face four converging pressures—AI automation of academic tasks, fiscal limits, shifting student behavior, and the postdoc bottleneck—that together reduce instructional capacity. The twin problems of limited teaching slots and fewer tenured lines risk further stretching students and eroding completion goals.