Why more U.S. colleges will go under in the next few years

[marmar]

(MarketWatch) When officials at Sweet Briar College announced earlier this month that the Virginia women's’ school would close at the end of this year, the news drew the attention of countless national media outlets and panicked alumnae looking for ways to save the school.

After all, how often does a “rich girl’s school,” as one student described Sweet Briar in the New York Times, just suddenly shut down?

It’s pretty rare for a more than 100-year-old school with a national reputation for a beautiful campus, close-knit community and accessible professors to just up and close. In the 10 years leading up to 2013, five nonprofit colleges and universities closed a year on average, according to a study from higher education researchers at Vanderbilt University. But the trend is likely to accelerate in the coming years, as colleges cope with lower tuition revenue due in part to lackluster enrollment, student worries about employment prospects and being saddled with debt after graduation.

“We expect that there will be more college closures over the next three to four years,” Susan Fitzgerald, a senior vice president at Moody’s. “I don’t think it’s going to be a landslide of college closures, but we are coming through a very tough period of time.” .............(more)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-more-private-colleges-are-closing-2015-03-25?dist=lbeforebell

[AwakeAtLast]

1. Slashing government funding also doesn't help

I know this is about a "rich" college that doesn't get as much funding as public schools, but financial aid from the government is always the first to be cut. It helps everyone, whether they realize it or not.

[Buzz Clik]

2. The irreversible trend is toward gigantic, urban campuses.

Students will pay less, will avoid living expenses (by staying at home), and will be facing huge classes taught by underpaid instructors rather than professors who are at the top of their fields. The cost of an education will be less, and the students will get exactly what they pay for.

[TampaAnimusVortex]

3. It's called supply and demand...

The market is trying to find the proper price - and as in most markets, when a bubble forms, it eventually pops and businesses go bankrupt. (see the oil industry now as an example)

Were just on the up side of the curve right now.

[Sparhawk60]

4. Bubbles Pop???

You mean, just like the .com and the housing bubbles, now the education bubble is going to pop?? Unpossable!!!!

Requiring a four year degree for every job under the sun has got to stop.

[MisterP]

5. welcome to the Dominican Republic, circa 1988

you can stand or you can kneel