Education Dive: How many colleges and universities have closed since 2016?
Education Dive maintains a listing of recently closed, merged and consolidated colleges and universities. While most have been in the for-profit sector, Education Dive reports that 20 non-profit liberal arts colleges and universities closed or merged between 2016-2018.
The story highlights the struggles of small liberal arts colleges to stay open:
A 2016 report from Ernst & Young affiliate the Parthenon Group found 800 colleges vulnerable to "critical strategic challenges" due to their small size, compared to a much smaller share of colleges with enrollments over 1,000. The report lists several risk-factors for small colleges amid the current environment of consolidation in higher education. Those include: enrolling fewer than 1,000 students; the absence of online education programs; tuition increases greater than 8% and discounts higher than 35%; and depending on tuition for more than 85% of revenue.
The story and listing is available online.