A wave of financial distress is sweeping through America’s private nonprofit colleges, forcing more than 130 institutions into closures or mergers over the past five years as enrollment declines and budgets shrink. Experts warn that the crisis could deepen, with projections suggesting nearly a quarter of the roughly 1,700 private nonprofit degree-granting schools may face similar fates if current trends persist. The strain stems from long-term demographic shifts, rising costs, and shifting student priorities, leaving many campuses struggling to sustain operations. With the sector under pressure, questions loom over whether further consolidations—or even more dramatic exits—will reshape higher education in the coming years.
US colleges face a deadly crisis, with enrollments plummeting and budgets crashing — and they did it to themselves. The die-back is huge: More than 130 private nonprofit colleges and universities announced closures or mergers these last five years, and (per the Huron Consulting Group) “as many as 442 of the 1,700 private nonprofit degree-granting...
