"… Newbury College saw the biggest drop, except for two schools that merged with others so they now have no students at all. Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire lost 40 percent of its enrollment over the 20 years but still has 1,800 students. Other colleges survive on microscopic enrollments, like Boston Baptist College, which saw a lesser decline but has only 77 students, according to data from the US Department of Education data analyzed by the Globe.
The main reason these schools struggle is demographic. The number of high school graduates has been shrinking — and will continue to. Experts predict a major drop in the number of high school graduates overall after the year 2025 — especially in New England — because people have had fewer children since the 2008 economic recession." …
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/03/31/for-small-private-colleges-fewer-students-means-more-worries/1jjd8ZFusBt3kGjHOcpIqM/story.html
It’s not the economy, it’s the Smart Phone. Look around the average 2000 student high school campus at lunch time and you’ll see very few couples holding hands or smooching. Virtually all the kids are isolated or parallel-playing with their noses stuck in a phone instead of building actual-reality relationships. The phones, combined with Internet gaming, guarantees we WILL experience a significant population decline during the next 20 years.
From what I hear from my students, college used to be a place you thought you’d find your mate. Now, college aged students today are much more self-centric. They don’t need marriage or children to be happy. They seem to like just having friends and hook-ups, and want to do whatever they want to do. Too bad they may find out too late that “though they speak with bravest fire, and have the gift to all inspire…And have not love (their) words are vain, as sounding brass, and hopeless gain.” I Corinthians/Hopson
Good thing you edited that post @BennyBop . I was just about to report it. I am unclear as to,how your comment relates to the OP. This article isn’t about population decline.
OP, this is really about survival of the fittest. If colleges are business, and they can’t attract customers, they will go out of business.
Those private colleges both small and large that “upscaled”, although derided by many here on CC, are doing fine. The ones that remained “true to their roots” while offering nothing to distinguish themselves from state schools are dying.
The next generation is seeing those that are 5-10 years older really struggling with debt, wages not keeping up with being able to pay it off, and are starting to be smarter about avoiding it (through many paths)…and there are less of them overall. Our whole culture is now centered around this debt, bank commercials, car loans, wedding planners, it is everywhere. It is a problem.
Besides population, we may also see the pendulum swing away somewhat from college and back toward vocational trades, and if so, put pressure on enrollments.
I don’t think it’s that the next generation is seeing it and being smarter; I think that there are 1) simply fewer of them and 2) they are less able to get loans than my generation was. When I was in college (2004-2008), the credit card companies would set up tables at the student activities fair in the first few weeks of school and offer a free t-shirt or bag for students who applied for a card. Getting into massive private debt was as simple as signing a couple papers in the financial aid office!
Then the financial crisis happened, reforms happened, and getting large loans without a parent co-signer is pretty much impossible at the same time that tuition has shot up WAY faster than inflation. There are fewer high school graduates; their families may still be suffering long-term effects from the financial crisis in terms of their savings and retirement; and the tuition they’re facing down at these tuition-depending colleges is astronomical. It just makes more sense to consider the state directional down the road (especially when a lot of these tiny private colleges don’t necessarily offer any tangible benefit over the state directional).
I mean, the cost of attendance at Newbury College is $47,000. If I’m an MA resident (like about 70% of Newbury students) and I’m in the middle 50% of Newbury’s accepted students, why not go to Framingham State instead for half the cost? That is, of course, unless Newbury gives you it’s average 52% discount, which brings the costs in line with Framingham State…but of course gives Newbury less money.