The upcoming June 1, 2017, closing of St. Joseph’s College in Rensselear, Ind., raises in my mind the value of a separate discussion site for discussion about the shutdown of struggling colleges and universities. Maybe the CC community could share details known to them about the affected institutions, and perhaps we could engage in a discussion about the broad issues impacting struggling colleges and universities. Let this also serve as the OBITUARY PAGE for these entities, so their passing is properly noted in one central discussion location.
If Moody’s Investors Service is correct in predicting that as many as 15 small private colleges annually are expected to close, this discussion topic should generate plenty to talk about and to share.
Sweet Briar College for girls was going to close until lawsuits were brought. Some of the prior gifts to the college were restricted for educational use which made it difficult to close the school once the attorney general got involved. Then the alumni giving increased and it looks like the school is in the process of making a full recovery, complete with an increased advertising campaign.
I thought you meant Bennington (another college in Vermont), rather than Burlington, as I had never heard for Burlington College, but always heard about Bennington being in financial trouble. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bennington closed soon.
Looking up Burlington College, Wikipedia states they closed last May. Interestingly, the same article states that:
St. Joseph’s is roughly an hour from me. It is sad; beautiful campus and I’ve known several grads who loved it there. Small colleges/their finances were briefly considered in D’15’s college search.
I really feel for the current students who will be displaced. Purdue has said they will waive application fees and carefully consider transfer credits. I have also read Saint Francis in Fort Wayne and Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame are seeking to help students in transferring.
The contraction in the legal market over the last several years has collapsed enrollment at most law schools, with an over supply of law schools spitting out graduates who find fewer jobs available. Many law schools are losing money and downsizing faculty and staff. While only a handful of law schools have closed so far, nearly all schools have suffered lower enrollments (perhaps with the exception of the top prestige schools). Expect to see more close in the near future.
A good friend a work has a 2016 D that was a D2 volleyball recruit. Her college search was extremely difficult as playing volleyball was a priority for this kid. She got a spot with some $ at St Josephs College in IN and is having an amazing first year. Loves the volleyball, her friends, the teachers, classes, everything. My friend and her daughter are very stressed out right now. Neither of them can fathom having to scramble to find somewhere to go next year where they can afford and she can still play VB. What a stressful and scary situation to be in.
They should close as many as half of the law schools. The current oversupply is ridiculous. Private universities opened more and more of them for decades because they were profitable and gave their school a sheen of prestige (how can you be a real university if you don’t have a law school?) State politicians from second tier state schools would pass bills to open law schools at their alma mater so that it would catch up to the state flagship. No effort was made to assess need, or job opportunities or anything.
As a result, law degrees have become career dead ends and student debt mountains for hundreds of thousands of graduates who would have been better served by studying something else.
Keeping with the theme of institutional closings and the current law school thread, it is worth noting that Hamline University’s law school in St. Paul merged last year with William Mitchell College of Law, reducing by one the number of existing law schools.
Dowling College closed last year with very little notice. Many of the schools near it accepted the students and tried to match financial aid. The women’s lax team, including the coach, are now the new lax team at NYIT. Even the recruits decided to stay with the coach/team and enroll at NYIT.
Your friend’s daughter might find another school with a volleyball program.
The twin cities had 3 law schools for a long time. Several years ago, a fourth was added (St. Thomas). Now they are back to 3.
S is going to a smaller private college (about 1600) and D is looking at 3 different smaller colleges around the same size so this is concerning. Is there a site to go to in order to check the financial stability of schools? Hopefully one you don’t have to subscribe to and that doesn’t require your email address so you are hit with a million marketing emails?
If you’re talking high profile non-profits like the ACLU, this trend will only benefit the tiny portion of law students/recent graduates who attended top-14 law schools AND graduated at least in the top quarter of their class or those who graduated within the top 5% or less in lower tiered law schools.