Since March 2020, at least 64 colleges—mostly small, private liberal arts schools—have either closed or announced they will be closing, affecting almost 46,000 students.
This follows a decade that saw nearly 900 colleges shut their doors. Most of those, however, were for-profit institutions, as the Obama Administration cracked down on such schools for allegedly bilking their students, not to mention the federal government, out of financial aid funds.
This latest round of closures feels different. It primarily affects traditional not-for-profit institutions and even includes some public campuses, raising a number of questions: Why is this happening? What might be the long-term consequences? And what can at-risk colleges do to protect themselves?
The “why” has to do mostly with shrinking enrollments. According to the National Student Clearinghouse, from 2012 and 2019, college enrollment nationwide fell by more than 10 percent, due in large part to a four percent drop in the birthrate from 1990 to 2001. This demographic trend will only worsen, as the birthrate declined even more sharply following the Great Recession in 2008.
Another factor affecting enrollment is our irrational response to covid, locking young people—who were at very low risk—out of their classrooms for a year or more. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that, between March 2020 and August 2022, more than 1.2 million students simply disappeared from college campuses. Some returned, to be sure—but not all, and not enough to prevent dozens of those campuses from closing.
But perhaps the most significant development affecting current enrollment trends is the loss of trust in higher education. A recent Gallup survey found that confidence in America’s colleges and universities has plummeted in the last decade, with only 36 percent of adults expressing “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in our higher education system, down from 57 percent in 2015.
Combine that with the fact that many companies no longer require a college degree for entry-level positions, and it’s easy to see why so many young people are passing on college—and why so many campuses are hurting as a result.
Unfortunately, these campus closures come at a price—for students, for faculty and staff, for communities, and for society. Thousands of young people lose the opportunity to follow their dreams to become doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, nurses, or accountants. Faculty and staff are laid off, and not only do they suffer but so do the communities where they live as businesses close and economic depression sets in.
But the damage goes far beyond economics. About a third of the institutions that have closed in the past few years have been small, Christian colleges. This both deprives students of choices and lessens the influence of Christian education on our society—which, arguably, has never been needed more than it is right now, as the insanity of secularism seems to reach new heights each day.
How can colleges that may be teetering on the brink keep from joining the list of casualties? In a 2019 article for the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, I outlined a five-point survival plan that I believe still applies:
First, campuses at risk of closing must make the hard decision to downsize as necessary, even if that means dropping programs and/or laying off faculty and staff. Any program that isn’t pulling its weight must go. Cruel as that sounds, it’s better for a few folks to lose their jobs than for an entire institution to fail, taking everyone down with it.
Second, colleges must avoid the rampant mission creep currently infecting academia. They must stop trying to be all things to all people. We don’t need community colleges to become four-year schools, nor do we need every regional university to offer doctoral degrees.
Third, colleges must find ways to lower tuition for students—not just by offering “discounts” but by dropping the sticker price. Why would students spend $30,000 a year to go to a small liberal arts college when they can attend the state university down the street for less than half that? (To fund these price cuts, see my first two suggestions.)
Fourth, colleges must ensure that their curriculum leads to viable careers and well-paying jobs. I’m all for education for its own sake—and there are ways to work that into even the most practical curriculum—but most students aren’t interested in paying for a degree that doesn’t help them reach their financial goals.
Fifth, colleges must cease being overtly political. In the Gallup survey cited above, one of the main reasons respondents gave for not trusting higher education institutions is that they are seen as left-wing indoctrination camps. Maybe Ivy League schools can get away with that, but the average small college cannot. Many students will just go elsewhere—or not go at all.
Let me add a sixth point, directed specifically at religious institutions: They must remain true to their values. Surrendering to secularism to attract students will likely backfire and will certainly result in mission failure, if not extinction.
For institutions without large endowments or ranked football teams, the long-term outlook is challenging. With the “enrollment cliff” fast approaching, things are likely to get worse before they get better. Still, colleges that plan ahead, embrace their identity, and make sacrifices now stand a good chance of surviving.
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