Reply to WaPo feature on bad economic outlook for colleges

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I hadn't known Earlham was struggling and I quickly googled and in one of the campus articles on the departing president (after just one year) I found this quote:

"Earlham was facing pressure to enroll more students who could pay close to the full sticker price, while Price was known to feel strongly about the importance of continuing to further diversify the student body by attracting more first-generation and minority students, the faculty member said."

That pretty much sums it up. The issue isn't changes in demographic sizes (number of graduating seniors) but that the model of private higher education has become so increasingly reliant on finding enough full paying students to subsidize the other half of the student body at hefty discounts and the byproduct is that tuition shot up for full freight in order to pay for allthe bells and whistles, including financial aid for lower income students, which is now squeezing out the upper middle classes, and left the school trapped into a dangerous place. There's only so many full freight families and only so many of those would be interested in a place like Earlham. [/quote]

Earlham isn't *really* struggling.  They had a somewhat alarmist advisory board and some unsustainable financial practices.   They need to make adjustments but they should be fine (Note: I have no connection to Earlham, just work in higher ed data field).[/quote]

My friends son is there. Freshman class not close to full - they were still offering seats and discounts to students students in early August. Forty percent of incoming students are in double rooms with new roommates.

That will cascade. Faculty will not be replaced, maintenance will be deferred and so on. And this is after they invested a lot over the last decade to reposition and make their education more relevant to today’s workforce needs. [/quote]

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