This Week In College Viability (TWICV)

TWICV News and Commentary for November 3, 2025

This is the podcast that talks about the financial health and viability of public and private colleges with data, details and perspectives offered nowhere else.

Today’s show:  

+ Layoffs and cutbacks

+ How Closing a University Changes You

+ The Fragility of Small Scale   2025  Daniel Greenstein

+ Higher Ed Is Sleepwalking Toward Obsolescence — And AI Won’t Be the Cause, Just the Accelerant

+ Colleges Face a Financial Reckoning. The University of Chicago Is Exhibit A.

Show notes:

GU Faces Projected Financial Loss, International Student Enrollment Drop

Emails show UW-Madison to lay off 31 employees, among other cuts

Simmons University sees credit rating slashed to junk by Moody’s

How Closing a University Changes You

The Power and promise of higher education

Higher Ed Is Sleepwalking Toward Obsolescence — And AI Won’t Be the Cause, Just the Accelerant

Colleges Face a Financial Reckoning. The University of Chicago Is Exhibit A

TWICV News and Commentary for Oct 27 2025

This is the podcast that talks about the financial health and viability of public and private colleges with data, details and perspectives offered nowhere else.

Call it your college education about colleges.

This week:

+ Central Washington University says ‘ flat is good.”  Get out your anti-spin pills for this one.

+ Wilberforce University Launches Feasibility Study to Revive Historic Football Program 

+ Why college direct admissions is growing nationally

+ Jeff Selingo:  “It’s the cost.” And outcomes

+ Is Freezing tuition a good idea?

Stay informed with our weekly news note.  https://mailchi.mp/collegeviability/college-viability-app-sign-up

Show notes:
Michigan State University lays off 99 employees

University of Northern Colorado plans to lay off 50 employees

FLAT IS GOOD: Officials see positive signs in fall enrollment numbers at Central Washington University

Wilberforce University Launches Feasibility Study to Revive Historic Football Program 

You’re in and didn’t even apply? Why college direct admissions is growing nationally

As Financial Woes Mount, More Universities Turn To Staff Layoffs

Trump Wants Colleges to Freeze Tuition. Is That a Good Idea?

Podcasting sites were also impacted by the October 20th AWS issues.  So, a day late, probably not a dollar short.

Here are the show notes and links for stories in the Oct. 20th podcast

Higher ed layoff tracker: Mass. colleges cut more than 400 jobs over six months

UNC laying off approximately 50 staff to address budget deficit

Thomas Jefferson University to lay off about 650 employees

As its undergrad enrollment slid, UL’s hiring soared

Want to Know What You’ll Pay for College? There’s a Fast New Calculator for That.

Cosmetology Without Accountability: Failures of a Beauty School Accreditor

Americans’ Faith in Higher Ed Has Declined Even Further

Each week I wade through dozens and dozens of higher ed stories from either referrals from others or my own Google Alert searches.  The stories and commentary that make it onto the podcast are my best judgement of what my growing audience wants to hear.

For example, there was an Ohio private college president that posted this week that “ Just as culture eats strategy for breakfast, backbone beats brand”.  Now, I don’t know what that means.  He was trying to create a perception that his college was doing well.    After a review of the 4ygr and some financial indicators. I passed on this story.  Not that it shouldn’t be told, but there are other similar stories I can use.  BTW, this Ohio private has been increasing its endowment draw above the 4-5% target and has a 15% negative net income margin from 2016 -2024.    This college is not going to close, but they are prototypical of colleges engaging in chronic lack of transparency.   Almost an industry-wide genetic predisposition to spin half-stories.

But that is why I am here.  I am fully transparent. I am your higher education quality control resource.  Colleges spin.  I reverse the spin and get the true story out.

This week:

+  I continue to see an increasing number of layoffs and cutbacks.  I will have details.  Harvard is among those on my list this week.

+ Private Colleges Are Pitching Free Tuition for Middle-Class Students. Will It Make a Difference?

+ 2 N.J. universities just took a huge step toward a mega-merger

+ Ending Surprise Bills in Higher Education

+ Requiem For A College: At Forbes review  Jon Nichols.

Sign up for regular updates on the financial health of colleges here. 

Show notes and links

WWU enrollment drops, with smallest first-year class since 2020

Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Lays Off 25% of HUCTW Staff

NKU to eliminate some positions to address budget shortfall

CMU lays off 75 staffers in Software Engineering Institute, citing federal funding changes

Private Colleges Are Pitching Free Tuition for Middle-Class Students. Will It Make a Difference?

What happens to college towns after peak 18-year-old?

2 N.J. universities just took a huge step toward a mega-merger

Ending Surprise Bills in Higher Education

Requiem For A College: A Heartbreaking Tale, A Crucial Conversation

This is the podcast that talks about the financial health and viability of public and private colleges with data, details and perspectives offered nowhere else.  Forward the podcast link to your higher education friends.  No sense in just you getting latest news and commentary on the whole industry.

This week’s show includes:

+ Many layoff and cutback stories

+ More tuition resets that focus on access but not success

+ More Colleges Promise Graduates Employment, Grad School Placement.  

+ America’s Distorted Market for Higher Education

+ and much more.   . . .

Sign up for regular updates on the financial health of colleges here.

Show notes:

Layoffs, spending cuts hit Washington University in St. Louis

Berklee College of Music lays off 70 employees, no faculty

At least 55 more employees let go, USC reports 692 total layoffs as deficit reductions continue

DePaul University to cut spending after 30% drop in international students

Emory & Henry University Lowers Tuition by 50% for Upcoming Year

Bluffton University announces new affordability initiatives for incoming students

Local university launches new program offering minimum of $30K; here's what to know

More Colleges Promise Graduates Employment, Grad School Placement

‘A perfect storm’ — more colleges at risk as enrollment falls and financial pressures mount

America’s Distorted Market for Higher Education

In my many years on this earth, I have coached youth sports, served as a basketball referee and baseball umpire for many of those years.

As I watch the NIL and transfer portal news, I have been pondering the medium and longer-term fate of the youth sports industry. 

Steve Dittmore caught my attention recently with his 'Glory Days' Substack site.  I reached out to him and what resulted is a novel look at college sports and some informed speculation on its impact on the youth sports industry.

Here are some of the questions I asked Steve.

1. When we first chatted, you shared that the US has an education-based model for training Olympics athletes.   Your point was that colleges subsidize Olympic athletes.  As you have also shared, other nations have dedicated Olympics sports organizations.  How reasonable is it that dedicated sports organizations end up replacing the education-based model in our country?

2.  You have suggested that a college with a student-athlete rate of 44% or higher is financially risky.  What is the story behind that 44% number?

3.  Talk about your Substack site.  What are your reasons for posting and hosting that site?

4.   One of the many interesting thoughts that came out of our first discussion was about a scenario where the Power 4 football leaves the NCAA.  Share your thoughts on what could happen to non-Power 4 sports and the Olympic sports at Power 4 conferences.

5.  My fascination with all of the NIL and House settlement changes is their down-the-road impact on youth sports.  I have been intimately involved in youth sports for decades - as a coach, basketball referee, and baseball umpire.  I watched many parents invest considerable sums in youth sports teams.  In almost all cases, my perception was this was in investment that would be returned with a college scholarship.  As you and I know, that scenario is successful for only a few.

   There is a massive market for youth sports that includes coaching, training, and community investments in youth sports (defined as 10–18-year-olds) facilities.  If colleges end up cutting back on sports for financial reasons, speculate for us what impact that might have on the youth sports industry.

6. Finally, I want to talk about a model of single-sport conferences.  We talked previously about some of the ugly travel for college sports teams.  A single-sport conference would be more geographically concise.  Talk us through the benefits and drawbacks of that model.

Access does not equal success:  You have heard me say many times that too many colleges focus on enrollment and not nearly enough on graduation rates.  This phrase captures the essence of that.  Getting into college does not mean a student will be successful and graduate – yet enrollment is the focus we read and hear about for almost all colleges.

Sign up for regular updates on the financial health of colleges here.

This week:

+ A college leader at Bethel U (MN) reached out with clarifying information from a recent story I had on his college. I was both impressed and touched.

+ E-town (PA) doing well but tuition and fees per student keeps shrinking

+ The Ed Department Hasn’t Even Begun to Fight

+ Vanderbilt Eyes National Expansion

Show notes and links:

Brown University to lay off 48 employees and eliminate 55 vacant roles

Southern Oregon University to cut 23 programs and lay off 18 employees

Champlain College closing Ireland and Montreal campuses in 2026

Bradley University continues to see decline in freshman enrollment.

Bethel University (MN) responds (No link.)

Elizabethtown College Ranks Amongst the Nation’s Best in 2026 U.S. News & World Report Lists

The Ed Department Hasn’t Even Begun to Fight

Vanderbilt Eyes National Expansion

This week’s theme:  “challenging the enrollment spin”. 

I have a set of colleges on today’s show that would like us to believe that they are winning the higher education enrollment game.  Yet, in every case their enrollment data is selective and short-term. 

They ignore mostly pathetic graduation rates and don’t even begin to share their troublesome financial picture.  All the while trying to paint a rosy picture that their college is not like all of the other colleges in dire financial straights. 

Financial truths are more valuable than spin and other narratives. Each of these colleges have substantive financial challenges that they are hiding from their students, their faculty, their communities and probably more.

Show notes:  (links to stories in this podcast+

Budget cuts: What schools have announced them—and who may be next

Overall enrollment up at Missouri Southern State University

University of Illinois announces plans for new 400-bed residence hall

McNeese State University (LA) sees largest enrollment increase in two decades

UNO enrollment is down again. What does that mean for the university?

Bethel University (MN) LI post

YSU digs into fall enrollment numbers (Youngstown State)

'Wicked' college experience at Ann Arbor MI football game shows what the value of college could be.  

One of the ways I unwind during the last part of each day is to watch YouTube videos.  I like to watch talented entertainers and comedy clips from TV shows. 

One of them that came across my feed over the weekend was the UMich Band and Students recently performing a medley of songs from the musical Wicked.  It was just stunningly good.

I bring this up as an opportunity to again say that college is good.  Go if you can. Not all colleges are going to get you where you want to be.

Watching those students in the band and the few dozen student singers was just plain mesmerizing.  

These students exemplified an important part of the college experience.  It was a quality experience at a Power 4 Big Boy college.  While I mostly talk about colleges with troubled colleges and poor outcomes (graduation rates), the college experience for millions of students is positive and will continue.

It is those colleges, public and private, that clearly don’t have the financial resources to provide a comprehensive, quality college experience that need to be called out.  Those are the ones that I point out – and will continue to do so.

Here are the news stories and commentary for this week.

+ Fall 2025’s Unexpected Enrollment Successes

+ Colleges as commodities from the Education Alliance Groun and Dr. Chet Haskell

+ My first-ever public college ‘not worthy of consideration’ call for WIU

+ Wrap with Selling Dreams, Not Reality

+ and a couple of individual college stories as well.

The 2nd edition of Requiem for a College 2nd edition by Jonathan Nichols is a deeply personal and cautionary tale that explores the growing trend of college closures in the United States. It's a gripping account that reads like a mystery, but it's based on a true story. The book centers on the closure of Saint Joseph's College in Indiana, a school with a 128-year history that came to a heartbreaking end in 2017. Nichols, a former English professor and alumnus of the college, uses hundreds of hours of interviews and documentation to offer an insider's view, transporting readers to the school's final days and seeking to understand what went wrong. 

The second edition expands on the original work by including updated insights on the increasing rate of college closures and their profound impact on communities across the nation. It's an essential read for anyone involved in higher education. It validates the experiences of those who have faced the loss of a beloved institution while also serving as a compelling analysis and warning for others.