A tiny nonprofit called the University of Saint Katherine in North San Diego County recently announced that it would shut down on May 18 because of “unprecedented inflation and rising state-mandated work prices.”
It’s not only. Nationwide, colleges face financial difficulties that appear to be getting worse. Over 100 colleges and universities have announced plans to merge or close over the past eight times, according to a monitor released this month by Higher Ed Dive.
The record, which does not include for- income schools and even omits mergers among people institutions, totals 108 since 2016.
The closures cover a range of public and private universities, showing that the issue is not limited to just one place or sector.
The publication, which examines trends in higher education, stated that “our aim was not to make a suicide enjoy but rather to give our readers a tool to show the context of that action and any patterns within it.
The ongoing fallout from COVID- 19 lockdowns, cynicism about the return of investment on degrees, a growing praise for technical and it jobs, concerns about bias in academia, as well as other factors, have left numerous now struggling schools with no alternative but to merge with other campuses or shut down immediately, according to experts.
” Pressure to lower tuition, stagnant state funding, and a shrinking pool of high school graduates has strained many institutions ‘ bottom lines and questioned their long-term viability,” said one author. Those stresses have caused some to close”, Higher Ed Dive reported.
The coronavirus pandemic and its socioeconomic effects are “astounding uncertainty” for some still in place.
Some institutions are now forced to close their doors because of this.
Albany, New York’s College of Saint Rose is one of those institutions. Denise Dagnino, chairman of conversation for Saint Rose, told The College Fix a growing “demographic rock” is leading to declining admissions.
” There are fewer standard- time, college- certain students in the U. S., so the existing pool of fresh students has diminished overall”, Dagnino told The Fix via email.
The increasing skepticism about the worth of a college degree, she said, further reduces the number of students in college age.
She continued, noting that many Northeastern colleges were closed because of the COVID pandemic’s long-term effects.
Following the conclusion of the current academic year, Saint Rose will close in June.
Another institution shutting its doors this June is Cabrini University in Radnor, Pennsylvania.
Helen Drinan, interim president of Cabrini University, told The College Fix that” the pandemic somewhat masqueraded a lot of burdens already faced by schools which are tuition dependent, have modest endowments, and may be carrying debt as well”.
Many of the difficult decisions that financially burdened universities were delayed by the government’s financial support during the COVID pandemic, and they are now having to deal with their shortcomings as these aids have ended, Drinan said.
Drinan echoed many of Saint Rose’s concerns by describing a “demographic cliff,” which is an existential issue for the American university system because there are n’t enough students enrolled to pay for the costs of already-existing institutions.
People have grown very concerned about the cost of attending college and the debt they might have to pay, according to Drinan. Add all these factors together, and you are seeing a “perfect storm” of trouble for schools that do not have much financial strength, as explained by the reasons we do not really understand.
What these closures mean for the general state of higher education is a growing concern. The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association is one such organization that is raising the alarm.
SHEEO, a renowned expert group dedicated to promoting higher education’s improved access and quality, does not seem to be surprised by the worrying trend of college closures. Rachel Burns, one of SHEEO’s leading policy analysts, stated via email that the two main factors that are to blame for the recent issues facing higher education are declining enrollment and lack of government support.
” The number of students graduating from high school is dwindling”, Burns said, noting that between 2020 and 2023, many institutions were kept afloat by increased federal and state spending that has since expired, ending a lifeline to many struggling institutions.
According to Burns, the rate of college closures would remain the same or even increase in the near future. She criticizes those who claim that the university system is” just the right size” because, “even if this were the case, we should still be concerned about the students, staff, and communities that are affected when an institution closes.”
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