The idea has been around at least a decade, since wild predictions were made that more than half of all colleges would fail. Then, the reason was the rise of for-profit schools and online education.
Every week, on average, a college or university closes, according to an analysis by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. That’s up from about two per month last year and could worsen this fall as college enrollment dwindles further, experts said.
Hampshire College in Amherst announced cuts to staff benefits just months after the school’s leaders said it had recovered from enrollment and financial problems.
Katherine Anderson trekked from Texas to Philadelphia last year for a college program she couldn’t find anywhere else, combining the music business, entrepreneurship and technology. Two weeks ago, she received the startling news the university would be shutting down within days.
For months, college leaders said Pittsburgh Technical College had no plans to close, even as financial and enrollment woes mounted, as employees and board members left, and even as the school’s accrediting body warned PTC’s days might be numbered.
Philadelphia’s University of the Arts will close its doors at the end of the week, the school announced, abruptly ending programs for its about 1,100 students and 700 faculty and staff amid financial trouble.
Consolidating can be the lifeline for smaller colleges. However, such the financial shock that drives the transaction often comes by surprise. Here's what to look out for and what steps to take if a merger is inevitable.
To bolster enrollment and help working adult learners overcome the obstacles impeding their educational goals, academia and the business sector must take proactive and collaborative action.
More than 50 public and private nonprofit colleges have closed, merged or announced closures since March 2020, and over half of the students whose institutions shut down did not re-enroll.
