This Week In College Viability (TWICV)

Headlines for the October 21, 2024 podcast

1. More on cutbacks and layoffs
2. Where are the Whit Students?
3. College For All is Bad for Boys
4. Columbia College (IL) takes big 2024 enrollment hit.
5. New Mexico State University wants to create $137 M endowment for women's sports.

Takeaways from this podcast episode.

• Corrections in data are crucial for credibility.
• Gender disparities in college admissions are widening.
• Case studies illustrate the struggles of specific institutions.
• The focus on macro trends can overlook individual college needs.
• Data-driven tools are essential for college viability.
• The future of higher education may involve more mergers and program closures.
• Academically strong colleges still face financial challenges

Purchase your College Viability app here.

Show notes:

Western Washington University to nix about 55 jobs amid $18M budget cut

23 staff members laid off amid SLU’s ongoing financial struggles

Portland State University may lay off dozens of faculty

Where-are-the-White-Students  

College For All Is Bad For Boys

Columbia College had a huge drop in freshman enrollment. Where does it go from here? (No link.)

NMSU wants $137M to Support Women’s Sports  ( No link)

Amid declining enrollment, Brandeis is in an intensifying budget crunch

Are colleges really facing an enrollment cliff?

I want to start off this week’s podcast with a personal observation.  

I watched some 40- 50,000 people run in the Chicago Marathon yesterday.  It was a spectacle of humanity to see so many people invest so much into a challenging endeavor like running 26.2 miles

Watching some 50,000 people pass you in a matter of about 90 minutes,  is a lot of humankind.  

As I was watching those tens of thousands of souls, it was easy to make the connection to a higher education number.  40,000 is about the same number of college students impacted by college closures over the past few years.    

Countless times as my family traversed the marathon route in Chicago supporting a loved one, I saw the excitement of people recognizing their loved ones running with screams of joy.   As I reflected on those encounters, I couldn’t help but think about how many closed colleges are taking away that same joyous scream from thousands of their students and families

So for those who write off small percentage of college closures as not a big deal, no impact on the overall market, - you are missing the human point.  These are thousands of hopes and dreams being shredded by colleges that should not be in the business of higher education.

Grab a seat at the CHI, BOS, NY or even other marathons.  Watch some thousands or more human beings pass you as they engage in that challenge of challenges. 

This week's news and commentary:
Cutbacks at Drexel and SLU
Fitch Ratings:  Pressure Mounts for U.S. Colleges As Students Head Back to School
Martin Center:  Universities Are Doing Education Badly

Purchase the College Viability app you need here.

This week’s top news and commentary:

+ Yet another college sees football as enrollment salvation

+ Standard and Poors: College competition and operational pain are the ‘new normal,’  

+ You Can Now Get Admitted to Hundreds of Colleges Without Even Applying

+  You get what you pay for.   Free community college in Massachusetts expected to draw 45,000 students within a year

+ Those stories and more on the Oct 7 'This Week in College Viability'.

Purchase the version of the 2024 College Viability app you need.

Show notes:

Elizabethtown College (PA) reduces full-time faculty by 13, cuts a handful of programs

Mount Mercy University to bring football program to campus

Some Iowa private colleges break enrollment records ahead of demographic cliff

College competition and operational pain are the ‘new normal,’ S&P says

You Can Now Get Admitted to Hundreds of Colleges Without Even Applying

Cleveland State president calls graduates a ‘thriving force’ in the region, addresses enrollment and financial pressures

Free community college in Massachusetts expected to draw 45,000 students within a year

Headlines this week:

+Elizabethtown College: Fun place or not?

+Bradley University enrollment dips below 5,000 for first time in over 30 years

+High Schools are closing too.  What will be the impact on colleges?
 Yet another college resets tuition with the age-od tag:  “Our College has been a secret too well kept for too long,”

+ California campuses brace for ‘severe consequences’ as budget gap looms

+ Who cares if most UW Madison students come from outside of Wisconsin?

Plus more.

Show Notes:

35 Baldwin Wallace University faculty, staff members take buyouts amid financial deficit

Elizabethtown College to cut back on full-time faculty [update]

Bradley University enrollment dips below 5,000 for first time in over 30 years

With (high school) student enrollment plummeting, which schools should be considered candidates for closure?

Warren Wilson College Lowers Tuition Nearly 40 Percent to Break Down Barriers and Improve Access

Bethel University repositions tuition to increase transparency and access

Cal State campuses brace for ‘severe consequences’ as budget gap looms

Less than half of UW-Madison’s freshmen from Wisconsin

New Data Analysis Shows How Financial Aid Leveraging is Harming Low-Income Students at Public Universities

This week's podcast focuses on desperation heaves and mea culpas'.

I ask why can't college presidents be like college athletic coaches?

For the first time ever, I announce that a college is not 'consideration worthy'.

Those stories and much more in the September 23, 2024 'This Week in College Viability' podcast.

LInks to College Viability Products:
Products:
2024 Private College Viability App for Executive Analysls
2024 Private College Viability App for Faculty & Staff
2024 Private College Viability App for Students & Families

2024 PUBLIC College Viability App for Executive Analysls
2024 PUBLIC College Viability App for Faculty & Staff
2024 PUBLIC College Viability App for Students & Families

2024 Program Completion App for Private Colleges
2024 Program Completion App for PUBLIC Colleges

Show notes:

Ursuline College, Gannon University move forward with partnership talks

SLU budget deficit will force all programs, divisions to reduce expenses by 4%

Hartwick College Pricing Transparency

Enrollment declines at 5 UW system branch campuses; 2 post robust gains

Welcome to the Sep 16 TWICV podcast.

It is still summer in St. Louis. High 80’s most of this week.  With any luck, the St. Louis Cardinals will be put out of their playoff hope misery shortly.  

And colleges continue to announce positive enrollment stories.  ‘New enrollment record’, ‘Biggest class ever’ are just some of the typical headlines.

That’s fine.  Colleges can spin the vague enrollment measure as much as they want.

If you haven’t discovered Matt Hendrick’s PDS research tool, you need to do so.  It quickly and simply visualizes 7 acute financial indicators.  Matt also created a measure that lets users compare their college’s finances to a set of 9 recently-closed private colleges.   Just looking at the 7 visualizations can give you a quick read on any private colleges financial health and viability.  Here is a link to Matt's viz tool.

What I have discovered is that the true financial health of a college is nowhere close to being accurately represented by its enrollment numbers.

LInks to College Viability Products:
Products:
2024 Private College Viability App for Executive Analysls
2024 Private College Viability App for Faculty & Staff
2024 Private College Viability App for Students & Families

2024 PUBLIC College Viability App for Executive Analysls
2024 PUBLIC College Viability App for Faculty & Staff
2024 PUBLIC College Viability App for Students & Families

2024 Program Completion App for Private Colleges
2024 Program Completion App for PUBLIC Colleges

Show notes:

Columbia College Chicago considers cutting 18 ‘underperforming' majors from curriculum

Quincy University enrollment down three percent; number of returning full-time students largest in seven years

Talladega College Leaders Respond to Financial Tumult

Ithaca College unveils plan to stabilize enrollment and manage budget shortfall

Common App launches 2024–2025 direct admissions program with 117 colleges and universities

The RealPage Suit and Higher Education

If I created titles for these podcasts, this one would be:  Benefits of Hindsight in Closing a College.

Dr. David Evans was the president of Vermont Southern College in 2019.  His college was on the leading edge of a demise that has since impacted dozens more private colleges.   

Closure.

In this special podcast, we discuss:

• The accreditor's role in the closure
• A 5-year historical perspective on the changes in higher education still leading to the cutbacks, layoffs, and closure that happen with some regularity
• Broken bond covenants and the role they are playing in college closures
• The impact of higher education data entrepreneurs on the college market
• Dr. Evans talks about the importance of liquidity as a college faces a financial crisis

Here are some additional notes from the podcast

Takeaways

• Accreditors often prioritize protecting institutions over students.
• Transparency about financial health is increasingly important.
• Deferred maintenance can indicate a college's financial stability.
• Consolidation may be necessary for the sustainability of small colleges
• Future students should assess the physical condition of campuses.

TWICV for September 9, 2024

We have all survived our first full weekend of college and professional football, so let’s get to the headlines for this episode:  

+ Cutbacks and layoffs:  Delta State 

+ Rider University cuts student newspaper

+  Talladega College not shutting down,  They have a 4-step plan

+  Drake U has an interesting spin on 2 highly-qualified WS rankings.  You have to hear this.

+ I was mean to the president of Middles States Commission on HE

+  Ryan Craig:  College rankings will never be done by Consumer reports.

Is it fair to critique the financial health and viability of colleges?

I am a sports enthusiast.  I rarely care who wins; but I enjoy watching the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat as we used to hear on The Wide World of Sports.

Recently, I noticed local and national sport writers and talking heads break down many games to a play by play level.  Of course, their analysis is mostly subjective, but it does have elements of data and drawing on their expertise and experience.

So, I have just one story this week.  It is about a single college – but it represents the type of survival spin that is happening across higher education.

I am going to do a pretty deep analysis of the college’s news release and data from IPEDS and other sources.

Here are the questions Ben Unglesbee addressed during our podcast interview.

1. With all of the research and report you do, what is your sense of the stability of private colleges for this academic year?

2. Let's talk about the FAFSA Debacle.  What is the latest you are hearing?  Do you have any best-case and worst-case scenarios for this Fall?

3. You did a lot of reporting on University of the Arts.  Talk about that story. 

4. The culture of college searches has always been focused on the campus, the majors, the tuition, maybe the faculty, amenities etc.  From your reporting when might we reach a tipping point where the higher education consumer has a earlier focus on financial health and viability.

5. Recently there has been an increase in the number of short-notice closures  (UArts, Wells, and others).  What are you hearing from students and their families as you report on these closures?  Based on the stories you have done, do you expect there to be more short-notice closures or closures where the college gives about one year's notice?

6. I am guessing you have to fight your way through a lot of college spin.  Has it always been that way or are the new pressures on colleges forcing them to be less direct with their communications?