Anonymous wrote:I also doubt UMASS is going anywhere as it is supported by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

PP here. Agreed. I question the methodology. Galloway is too much of a doomsayer re large publics. And he is also ignoring just how monies some of the less-healthy but well endowed Eastern schools are. But overall, I can’t disagree with his views on many of the smaller places.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I question the methodology, but overall it is clear that most of his Struggle and Perish colleges are in real trouble. Multiple colleges have closed in New England in just the last two years. Multiple others are in real jeopardy. That's also true of huge numbers of colleges in the midwest. Many of the SLACs that are in the soup were originally founded as boarding schools (high schools) or as women's junior colleges (used to be quite commonplace) that were given permission to award degrees. They have no financial cushion, they provide no services, their co-curriculars are zip-zero. There is no question but that a number of his Struggle and Perish colleges will definitely shut down, many within a year or two.

Asking seriously -- why "in a year or two" particularly? Specific ones--?

(No dog in this fight, DD's college is fine, just wondering about the basis of the time frame you're predicting.)

Look at the failed efforts re Green Mountain and Vermont Southern as examples. Look at the successful-rescue example of Sweet Briar. When a college announces that it’s closing, alums may rally; there may be substantial, sudden contributions, a state might step in. It might take a full academic year to sort out the distress (like at Hampshire). That might buy a further academic year.

I also doubt UMASS is going anywhere as it is supported by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Color me skeptical that Denison, for instance, is going to perish with a $900m endowment. Complete nonsense.

I agree. He has 5 of the Ohio Six colleges perishing. The only one he has struggling is Wittenburg. He has Denison, Kenyon, Oberlin, Wooster and Ohio Wesleyan perishing. My dd is going to one to one of the 5 he has perishing. I know they have a very strong alumni network who raised a lot of money to help the college weather the pandemic. The school may struggle but I doubt it will close anytime soon.

I had the same reaction. There is no way those Ohio schools are perishing.

+3

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Color me skeptical that Denison, for instance, is going to perish with a $900m endowment. Complete nonsense.

I agree. He has 5 of the Ohio Six colleges perishing. The only one he has struggling is Wittenburg. He has Denison, Kenyon, Oberlin, Wooster and Ohio Wesleyan perishing. My dd is going to one to one of the 5 he has perishing. I know they have a very strong alumni network who raised a lot of money to help the college weather the pandemic. The school may struggle but I doubt it will close anytime soon.

I had the same reaction. There is no way those Ohio schools are perishing.

Anonymous wrote:St. John's College will not perish.

Neither will Oberlin with nearly $1B in endowment. This guy’s a nutcase.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Color me skeptical that Denison, for instance, is going to perish with a $900m endowment. Complete nonsense.

I agree. He has 5 of the Ohio Six colleges perishing. The only one he has struggling is Wittenburg. He has Denison, Kenyon, Oberlin, Wooster and Ohio Wesleyan perishing. My dd is going to one to one of the 5 he has perishing. I know they have a very strong alumni network who raised a lot of money to help the college weather the pandemic. The school may struggle but I doubt it will close anytime soon.

There is no way these are perishing.

Anonymous wrote:Color me skeptical that Denison, for instance, is going to perish with a $900m endowment. Complete nonsense.

I agree. He has 5 of the Ohio Six colleges perishing. The only one he has struggling is Wittenburg. He has Denison, Kenyon, Oberlin, Wooster and Ohio Wesleyan perishing. My dd is going to one to one of the 5 he has perishing. I know they have a very strong alumni network who raised a lot of money to help the college weather the pandemic. The school may struggle but I doubt it will close anytime soon.

St. John's College will not perish.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that the author only chose a certain number of schools, implying that he chose somewhat ''known'' ones. That tells me that the really struggling ones (a couple I can think of) were so unknown they didn't make the list.

He ranked 436 universities. There are over 2,500 four year colleges in the US

Yeah that was weird to me too, like why even list all those rich powerhouses on his list of 436? Waste of time, when clearly the bottom 500 broke no-name colleges out of 2,500 are far more likely to cease to exist.

I think the closures are a long time coming. Most of these no-name schools were constructed during horse and carriage times or pre air travel ... and long before global trade killed middle America in the 70s, 80s and 90s. There's little local talent in most of these places and smart kids have too many options. It's not like they just have local private vs. state flagship. The internet puts everything at their fingertips. And all these flyover towns have long been abandoned; they're not idyllic, they're depressing.

This was already done by Forbes, who gave letter grades to every colleges' financial reports. Those most likely to perish are schools with C-'s thru D's.

Virginia:
Ferrum College C-
Bluefield College, Mary Baldwin University, Averett University, Regent University have D's


Maryland:
Notre Dame of Maryland University, Stevenson University, Hood College have C-'s
Mount St. Mary's University D

https://www.forbes.com/sites/schifrin/2019/11/27/dawn-of-the-dead-for-hundreds-of-the-nations-private-colleges-its-merge-or-perish/#30d916c0770d

Hey, my kid's schools is listed as Perish.

She is halfway through at this point.

Some things (many things right now) are just out of our hands.

Anonymous wrote:Well, one perish on DS list, it's one of his top choices and a safety he'd love to attend. Their tuition is obscene, but they give great merit. They've also invested quite a bit and completed many of their master plan projects. We love the school.

Freshman Dc’s school is on the list in the struggle category. Eek! But nothing we can do now.

Well, one perish on DS list, it's one of his top choices and a safety he'd love to attend. Their tuition is obscene, but they give great merit. They've also invested quite a bit and completed many of their master plan projects. We love the school.

Color me skeptical that Denison, for instance, is going to perish with a $900m endowment. Complete nonsense.