Comments on: Experts predicted dozens of colleges would close in 2023 – and they were right

By: Alice W Brown

Alice W Brown — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 17:27:16 +0000

For 25 years I led an association of 35 small private liberal arts colleges developed to provide faculty and students fellowships and grants. I watched four of those colleges close during my tenure, and four others have closed since I left the association in 2008. It is sad that they closed; even sadder is the way that they closed–denying the need to close until there were few resources for a graceful transition period. When a new vice president at one of the major foundations supporting the association asked me to tell him about the member colleges, I ended that presentation by saying, “And some just need to close.” He asked, “Which do you think need to close?” I replied, “Virginia Intermont.” His response was, “My mother went there.” While I was thinking about the others I should have mentioned instead of VI, he said, “That college should have closed 20 years ago.” And that is one of the saddest statements that can be made about colleges closing: they need to close while they still have the resources to do so with some grace–severance pay for faculty looking for new jobs, scholarships for students transferring, and documentation of the history of the college and all that it accomplished. “Death by a thousand cuts” is not a graceful way to die.

By: Paul Adams

Paul Adams — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 20:38:10 +0000

Jim Worrall may need to educate himself before attacking higher education for failing to do so. First, going through the process of introducing young people to colleges is instructive and sometimes enlightening, but it doesn’t make him or anyone else an expert on what attracts colleges toward or drives students away from higher education.

Second, it’s unclear what he means by “honest” and “dishonest mega” schools, although it isn’t hard to guess. The universe of schools isn’t divided neatly into those two categories. If you have a problem with certain “schools,” Jim, name them!

Third, the “leftist indoctrination, DEI nonsense” remark is a dead giveaway for Jim’s white nationalist agenda.

Fourth, we taxpayers underwrite lots of things, Jim, including corporate welfare. Financial aid to students is among the best uses of tax money.

Fifth, the claim that abortion is reducing the birthrate and therefore the cohort of college-bound students is, well, just laughable.

Want to have a legitimate, data-based conversation about financial aid, transferability of college credits, the tax status of certain non-profits? Sure. But I for one would rather that conversation with someone who’s less ideological. Which is to say, with someone who’s done his homework.

By: Langston Donkle

Langston Donkle — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 15:42:24 +0000

“We’ll trim our administrative staff a little bit.” That’s the most important sentence in the article. Many administrative staffs have swollen unnecessarily over the past 20-30 years.

By: Jim Worrall

Jim Worrall — Sat, 13 Jan 2024 17:11:38 +0000

As a father, intricately involved in the college admissions process for three of my children over the last four years, I am well equipped to speak to issues driving students away from formal education.

Honest colleges and universities are competing against dishonest mega schools run as businesses but inappropriately benefiting from nonprofit status. These nonprofit schools plow the money they should pay in taxes into marketing. They lie and mislead prospective students and play games with student financial aid.

Broader issues affecting all students include the following:
1) Tuition has risen far faster than inflation driven by student loans. Taxpayers should not be funding student loans.

2) College has become far less relevant as many colleges and professors focus on leftist indoctrination, DEI and other nonsense rather than teaching useful information.

3)Most students lose a significant amount of credit when they transfer courses to a different school. Introductory courses should contain the same essential information to reduce cost and facilitate credit transfer.

4) The proliferation of free or low cost non-collegiate online educational resources has reduced the pool of potential students.

5) Abortion has reduced the birthrate and the pool of potential students.

6) For decades we have been pushing students to college who would be far better served going to vocational school and learning a high paying trade. German has an excellent system of vocational education America should model.