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Small colleges struggling because of declining enrollment and tuition revenues face stark choices: If they can’t rebound, financial realities may force them to shut down.
Dozens of for-profit colleges have closed recently, as have several private not-for-profits such as Coleman University in California and St. Gregory’s University in Oklahoma. And many experts, such as Moody’s analysts, predict a wave of college closures is looming.
But increasingly, threatened colleges are trying a middle path: staying afloat by merging with another institution.
The advantages can be significant: merged schools can reduce redundant back-office costs, and allow their students to stay on track to graduate without disruption.
In this webinar, Rick Seltzer, who has been covering college mergers for Inside Higher Ed, passes on to journalists advice on how to catch early symptoms of a closure or merger, and how to tell the difference between an organized merger versus haphazard attempts to force two institutions together. Seltzer recently published an 87-page report in which he analyzed recent successful and failed college mergers.
Rick Seltzer Presentation Slides
