College closures are showing no sign of slowing down in 2024 following a report from Implan, an economic software and analysis company, that revealed at least 20 colleges have shuttered so far this year. However, several institutions this year have dodged the tolling bell—offering college leaders clues as to how they, too, can avoid an existential crisis.
Autopsies of college closures have become a predictable affair: low enrollment and insurmountable debt partially exasperated by the pandemic. However, proponents of higher education are still struggling to alleviate the consequences students and employees face. University of the Arts in Pennsylvania, which gave its community a seven-day notice before closing in June, faces a pair of class-action lawsuits.
“This situation reflects a complete failure of leadership,” Eric Lechtzin, the attorney representing former faculty who allege UArts violated federal labor laws, told Philadelphia Magazine.
How to ‘course-correct’ a financial crisis
Talladega College has suffered a 24% enrollment decline in the past three years while simultaneously increasing payroll for new hires, interim president Walter Kimbrough announced in a sobering State of the College Address last month. The 157-year-old HBCU now plans to “course-correct.” Talladega drew criticism earlier this summer for missing payments to employees and vendors and failing to provide students with federal refund checks.
One reporter in the audience drew parallels between Talladega’s situation and Birmingham-Southern College. Located just 60 miles from Talladega, the private liberal arts school shuttered its doors in May. President Kimbrough deduced that its decline was due to issues beginning in 2010 that festered during leadership turnover. Talladega, Kimbrough asserted, still finds itself in a viable position to change course. “[W]e’re digging down to the studs to figure out where we are and address those forthrightly and move forward.”
Kimbrough announced he cut a certain number of employee positions to bring down payroll from $1.4 million to $1 million. However, he did not announce how many. Talladega has also gutted shut down its female gymnastics team after just one year, WVTM reports. “[E]verything is on the table,” said Rica Lewis-Payton, Board of Directors Chair. “As we look at all the programs we have, we got to make those hard decisions about what makes sense and what doesn’t.”
Furthermore, Lewis-Payton stated that Talladega plans to build its endowment to support the institution.
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Two other key factors announced as core components of Talladega’s recuperation plan include academic excellence and recruitment and retention.
Northland College, has been operating with a budget deficit since 2016 and can no longer rely on its endowment if it wishes to stay open, Wisconsin Public Radio reports. To avoid closure, the college reduced its faculty headcount to 31 as it hones in on eight majors for its students.
“I feel sorry for everyone, but some people volunteered,” said Angela Stroud, associate professor of sociology at Northland. “I feel really sorry for the people for whom it was a surprise. Some people have put in decades of commitment to the college.”
Is cutting just a ‘quick fix’?
Enrollment in 2023 at Cedar Crest College in Pennsylvania dropped by 4.5% and created a $3.7 million budget shortfall. Rather than cut and reduce as other colleges have, President Elizabeth Meade built a one-year growth plan focused on maximizing its strengths, like its marketing potential to mid-career adults across Lehigh Valley and the prestige of its nursing and education programs.
Meade credits this outlook to a 3.5% enrollment spike this fall. “Just as cutting is not a quick fix, growth is not a quick fix,” she says. “It takes discipline and it takes focus.”
Read University Business’ full account of Cedar Crest’s story here.
