Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[mythbuster]

The College of Science plays in the Junior College league league. I was half expecting D3- as so many have commented on small schools where athletic participation drives enrollment. But I wasn't expecting it for a Junior College!

[Wahoo Redux]

IHE: Moody's Report: College Closures to Increase

[Hibush]

IHE: Moody's Report: College Closures to Increase

Moody's doesn't offer insights that we are not already well aware of on this thread.

• distressed institutions are expected to try various approaches to stave off closures—including declaring financial exigency—often depleting assets in the process with no guarantee of remaining open.
• most troubled colleges will continue to operate as long as possible
• predicting college closures is difficult due to potential outside funding from donors and states
• Small private colleges with enrollment struggles are "most vulnerable to closure
• public institutions will merge or consolidate

I expect successful donor and state rescues to remain rare, so the prediction of closure is not likely to be complicated by that possibility.

[Langue_doc]

Once feared doomed, Bloomfield College in NJ merges with Montclair State University

https://gothamist.com/news/bloomfield-college-in-nj-once-feared-doomed-merges-with-montclair-university

[Wahoo Redux]

IHE: American Confidence in Higher Ed Hits Historic Low

[Hibush]

Once feared doomed, Bloomfield College in NJ merges with Montclair State University

https://gothamist.com/news/bloomfield-college-in-nj-once-feared-doomed-merges-with-montclair-university

Did the assets and obligations roughly cancel out so no cash changed hands?

[lightning]

IHE: American Confidence in Higher Ed Hits Historic Low

Nobody should be surprised.

The article, of course, speculates on what may have caused this. As expected, the article likes to blame the Republicans' culture wars. Yeah, that has a lot to do with it, but we have to be careful about using Republicans as a convenient reason, because it distracts from other more important reasons.

The article neglects to point out all the garbage degrees and all the garbage institutions like (UoP, Everest, etc.). There are many, many ex-students who hold garbage degrees or who attended garbage schools, or worst of all, got garbage degrees from garbage schools. There are a lot of this population, and they (and those close to them like family and friends) have lost confidence in higher ed because of the broken implicit promises of these garbage degrees and garbage institutions that were allowed to exist in the first place.

The article neglects to point out that the legit schools are over-promising outcomes that are borderline unrealistic, even borrowing from the bad actors like UoP and misleading its students, prospective students, and the general public, which shakes confidence even further.

The article neglects to point out the skyrocketing costs of obtaining a college degree, thereby raising expectations of the outcomes of the degree to the point where the return-on-investment is very low relative to the cost, and so confidence in the value of the degree is hard to obtain and maintain.

The article neglects to point out the re-orientation of higher education to the administration of higher education, rather than the education itself.

The article neglects to point out that universities do a terrible job of communicating to the general public, the impact of their research.

The article neglects to point out that universities do a terrible job of communicating to the general public, the impact of the university as a regional economic engine/economic driver.

This Inside Higher Ed article is garbage.

[downer]

IHE: American Confidence in Higher Ed Hits Historic Low

Nobody should be surprised.

The article, of course, speculates on what may have caused this. As expected, the article likes to blame the Republicans' culture wars. Yeah, that has a lot to do with it, but we have to be careful about using Republicans as a convenient reason, because it distracts from other more important reasons.

The article neglects to point out all the garbage degrees and all the garbage institutions like (UoP, Everest, etc.). There are many, many ex-students who hold garbage degrees or who attended garbage schools, or worst of all, got garbage degrees from garbage schools. There are a lot of this population, and they (and those close to them like family and friends) have lost confidence in higher ed because of the broken implicit promises of these garbage degrees and garbage institutions that were allowed to exist in the first place.

The article neglects to point out that the legit schools are over-promising outcomes that are borderline unrealistic, even borrowing from the bad actors like UoP and misleading its students, prospective students, and the general public, which shakes confidence even further.

The article neglects to point out the skyrocketing costs of obtaining a college degree, thereby raising expectations of the outcomes of the degree to the point where the return-on-investment is very low relative to the cost, and so confidence in the value of the degree is hard to obtain and maintain.

The article neglects to point out the re-orientation of higher education to the administration of higher education, rather than the education itself.

The article neglects to point out that universities do a terrible job of communicating to the general public, the impact of their research.

The article neglects to point out that universities do a terrible job of communicating to the general public, the impact of the university as a regional economic engine/economic driver.

This Inside Higher Ed article is garbage.

That's a harsh judgment on the article, but the main topic is the Gallup poll. I'd like more info on regional variations, and comparisons with other countries. Seems like this could be a thread of its own.

[Langue_doc]

Once feared doomed, Bloomfield College in NJ merges with Montclair State University

https://gothamist.com/news/bloomfield-college-in-nj-once-feared-doomed-merges-with-montclair-university

Did the assets and obligations roughly cancel out so no cash changed hands?

The official merger announcement on the college website
https://bloomfield.edu/announcements/summary-agreement-and-plan-merger

Bloomfield College will be merged into a new nonprofit entity controlled by Montclair State University to be known as Bloomfield College of Montclair State University. Bloomfield College and Montclair State University aim to complete the merger as of June 30, 2023. From that point forward, Bloomfield College of Montclair State University, as a constituent college of Montclair State University, will continue to provide a distinctive educational experience consistent with Bloomfield College's mission to provide a transformative education with an emphasis on empowering first-generation students from a diversity of backgrounds, and where students will have access to and benefit from the resources available to all Montclair State University students.

From the North Jersey News https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/education/2023/07/05/bloomfield-college-merger-montclair-state-university/70382723007/

A merger with Montclair State University has given a new lease on life to Bloomfield College, a small, financially-strapped private college serving mostly low-income Black and Hispanic students in Essex County, saving it from shutting its doors.

Bloomfield College, among the state's oldest private minority-serving institutions enrolling about 1,200 students, officially merged with Montclair State, a public research university serving 21,800 students, on July 1. Gov. Phil Murphy gave final authorization to the merger by signing it into law Friday, at the start of the new fiscal year.

Starting in the fall, admissions to the two institutions and classes on the two campuses will remain separate while the control and management of infrastructure and operations at Bloomfield shifts to Montclair State. Students at the newly minted "Bloomfield College of Montclair State University" will see no interruptions in the fall as the two institutions continue to design what their partnership could eventually provide them, said Montclair President Jonathan Koppell.

[Langue_doc]

The article neglects to point out the re-orientation of higher education to the administration of higher education, rather than the education itself.

This is probably the main reason for banging our heads in despair.
 

[spork]

[. . .]

"Bloomfield College of Montclair State University" will see no interruptions in the fall as the two institutions continue to design what their partnership could eventually provide them, said Montclair President Jonathan Koppell.

In five years "BCMSU" will be nothing but a sign on a building. Either Bloomfield College will be completely subsumed into Montclair State as a satellite campus, or Montclair will sell the real estate.

[Hibush]

[. . .]

"Bloomfield College of Montclair State University" will see no interruptions in the fall as the two institutions continue to design what their partnership could eventually provide them, said Montclair President Jonathan Koppell.

In five years "BCMSU" will be nothing but a sign on a building. Either Bloomfield College will be completely subsumed into Montclair State as a satellite campus, or Montclair will sell the real estate.

If BCMSU is just a sign on a building, and that seems a likely outcome, will the building have been allowed to decay without maintenance or will MSU have spent on the deferred maintenance that is typical of academic facilitites at struggling schools? 

BCs base actually seems like a good way for this college to build the diverse student body that fits its mission. As long as the money to pay for the higher-financial-need students comes from the state, this could work out well.

[ciao_yall]

The article neglects to point out the crashing decline of public support, leading to the skyrocketing out-of-pocket costs of obtaining a college degree, thereby raising expectations of the outcomes of the degree to the point where the return-on-investment is very low relative to the cost, and so confidence in the value of the degree is hard to obtain and maintain.

There. FTFY.

[Wahoo Redux]

IHE: Fighting for Scraps in Pennsylvania

Lower Deck

Enrollment in the state has plummeted, but it has one of the highest ratios of institutions to students in the country. The result is fierce competition over a dwindling pool of applicants.

While the more popular campuses are stable or growing, many of the state's public institutions have seen drastic enrollment declines since 2010. Enrollment at Penn State's University Park campus is up 8 percent since 2010, and Pitt Oakland is up by 1 percent. But when the numbers at the two institutions are considered, including all of their campuses, both have suffered drops of over 30 percent, according to public data from the institutions. PASSHE's systemwide enrollment has also fallen by 30 percent in the same period.

[treeoflife]

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jul/14/rishi-sunak-force-english-universities-cap-low-value-degrees
This is an interesting approach, I do not see it happening here but the trend is clear.