Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nowadays most students would prefer a T30 over a liberal arts college. And a T15 over a T10 lac.

I think that this is a reasonable statement that even a fan of LACs could accept as reality.

+1. I'm a SLAC fan. My younger DD is a senior so we are in the midst of the whole college thing. In the beginning of her search, she was open to a SLAC but as time went on, she got away from that. She wants to attend a school that people have heard of and she doesn't want it to be isolated. I don't think she's alone in this.

That’s exactly our situation. Parents are lac fans but DD drifted away from the idea as she learned more about schools.

Anonymous wrote:Nowadays most students would prefer a T30 over a liberal arts college. And a T15 over a T10 lac.

I think the popularity of SLACs depends on the circles you run in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hard times ahead. I could never understand DCUM’s love for this school—it’s just not that great.

https://kenyoncollegian.com/news/2025/11/kenyon-personnel-to-be-reduced-as-student-body-decreases/

It was an exceptional experience for me and my friends in the 90s. Spectacular education—all of my circle went on to top grad or law schools and excelled.

That said, it has always been endowment poor and its isolated location makes it a tough sell today.

Hope they find a path forward.

$680 million for a student body of 1,700 is not "endowment poor." Elon's endowment is barely half that for a student body four times larger. That's endowment poor. Christ.

PP here. Had no idea it had grown to that amount. IIRC, was < $50 million in the 90s, which was a source of constant concern for the administration.

There was a chart in Dream School that showed Kenyon had the biggest dropoff in full pay students of any college in the US over the last decade. That's a problem.

Kenyon has a well-known writing program but has had restrictions on number of English majors. Students could not sign up for needed classes and had to beg their way in. Why would a full pay student go to a college where the most popular major has such barriers?

https://kenyoncollegian.com/opinion/2022/09/high-enrollment-classes-not-attainable/

Current tour guides mentioned they also had to talk their way into classes. It’s an ongoing issue.

Plenty of top 25 SLAC if not all of them are in strong fiscal health and are not subject to large Federal Funding cuts. Schools like Williams, Amherst, Colgate, Holy Cross, Davidson are very well known and all have significant endowments per student. Those schools also have great alumni networks that can help place grads in a tough economy. Kenyon might have its work cut out but so do Harvard and UChicago,

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nowadays most students would prefer a T30 over a liberal arts college. And a T15 over a T10 lac.

I think that this is a reasonable statement that even a fan of LACs could accept as reality.

+1. I'm a SLAC fan. My younger DD is a senior so we are in the midst of the whole college thing. In the beginning of her search, she was open to a SLAC but as time went on, she got away from that. She wants to attend a school that people have heard of and she doesn't want it to be isolated. I don't think she's alone in this.

Anonymous wrote:Nowadays most students would prefer a T30 over a liberal arts college. And a T15 over a T10 lac.

Kenyon College's concerted, and admirable, effort to increase to 2,000 students which actually resulted in a net loss of 110 students is evidence of this trend.

Rightsizing is the wisest move for small, isolated Kenyon College at this time.

In the future, Kenyon College should consider an alliance which would make Kenyon College a 2 year feeder school to an elite university like Emory at Oxford (Oxford, Georgia) is to Emory University. Any thoughts as to which university would be a good match with Kenyon College ? Maybe U Chicago ?

Anonymous wrote:Nowadays most students would prefer a T30 over a liberal arts college. And a T15 over a T10 lac.

I think that this is a reasonable statement that even a fan of LACs could accept as reality.

Not a good sign. Relative to New England schools they are endowment poor. Enrollment falling by over 6% and they increase hiring staff- mismanagement. Location not desirable.

Anonymous wrote:Nowadays most students would prefer a T30 over a liberal arts college. And a T15 over a T10 lac.

OK, NOVA mom. Just say you hate SLACs and keep it moving.