This Week In College Viability (TWICV) for February 19, 2024

Here are some of the stories for the March 11th 'This Week in College Viability podcast.

Student impact story on NDC closure

Stories from Fitch & Bloomberg on HE

Mississippi joins the merger/consolidation movement

U Virginia: 1000 undergrads to pay the base salaries of DEI staff?

Basketball team without a college

Show notes and links:

St. Norbert College announces further layoffs amid ongoing budget issues

Tallmadge teen devastated after college announces closure days after his football commitment

Notre Dame College students mull next steps after news of closure

Vulnerable US Private Colleges at Risk from New Federal, State Actions

Mississippi universities "efficiency" would be studied under Senate bill

1000 undergrads to pay the base salaries of DEI staff

Massachusetts ramps up financial oversight for 2 faith-based colleges

Where are we headed this week?

Well, we'll start off with another unsurprising college closure announcement this past week. Get ready for some surprising ones in the next two months as the college year winds down.

There was an interesting presidential departure from a struggling Illinois public college.

'Delusional' is this week's theme for both faculty and college leaders

It's time to purchase your 2024 Private College Viability App.  Click here to see your options.

If you want to join one of my weekly College Viability App webinars, click here.

Here are the show note links.

The big cutback was NDC in Ohio.

President of Western Illinois University is leaving the position at the end of March. (Note:  This college needs revolving doors to the president's office.)

Concordia University announces cut to staff, faculty at both campuses

Webster University can tap restricted donor money, judge rules

Manhattan College Betrays Faculty

These Tenured Professors Thought They Were Safe From Manhattan College’s Latest Layoffs. They Were Wrong.

The IHE College President’s Survey

How can governors oversee successful higher education mergers?

College closings and mergers by state  HED

Links to this week's stories.

Cutbacks & Layoffs at Wright State and U Toledo

IHE must be following me.  Their story last week about recent cutbacks and layoffs mimics the stories I have shared here over the past month or so.

Chicken and College:  Interesting partnership

A double dip enrollment recession? (Newsletter, no URL)

Why Is the College-Completion Rate Stagnating?   

Concordia leaders open dialogue with students, employees through town hall meetings

Rating Agencies on the Outlook for Higher Education

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Private College Viability App for Faculty & Staff

Private College Viability App for Students & Families

Here are the stories and commentary in the February 19 TWICV 

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1. FAFSA delay responses:  Good one at SLU.  Mundane responses elsewhere
2. Webster U wants to re-direct restricted donations to unrestricted.  Not going over well.
3. UNC Greensboro Faculty Oppose Academic Cuts – Faculty protests are about as new as snow is white.  Grass is green and the sun is hot.
4. Multiple lawsuits filed against Saint Augustine's University for not paying bills on time – We have seen that before.  Let’s call it a likely indicator of imminent closure.
5. Columbia College (Chicago)  President is there one day and gone the next.
6. $1.00 enrollment deposits at Upper Iowa U.  You would be better off spending $29 to buy the 2024 PCVA and learn it might not be a good $1.00 investment.

Show Note Links:
Marietta College to cut 3 dozen administrators and faculty

Concordia University Wisconsin will cut staff, 'reimagine' its Ann Arbor campus

CUNY's Queens College Faces Backlash Over Faculty Layoffs

University of Arkansas Fort Smith considering the removal of five degree programs

Gov. Kevin Stitt (OK) wants higher education consolidation. What would that look like?

‘Time for Plan B’: The FAFSA Waiting Game Is Forcing Colleges to Adjust on the Fly

Donors sue to stop Webster University from using scholarship cash

Of Course UNC Greensboro Faculty Oppose Academic Cuts 

Multiple lawsuits filed against Saint Augustine's University for not paying bills on time

Chair of the Board of Trustees, Stephen Squeri, Responds to MC CFA’s Vote of No Confidence

On TUESDAY:  Kim pledges to meet more regularly with students as financial crisis deepens

 Raven Eye Consulting helps Higher Education clients accelerate their path to enrollment and retention results.  They work with Colleges and Universities to improve enrollment and retention functional processes, utilize data for continuous improvement, deploy technology to achieve scale, and develop a responsive and effective enrollment and retention staff redesign student experience.

We talked with founder Alby Salsa the impact of FAFSA delays, graduation rates, and student retention.

This Week in College Viability for February 12, 2024

Valentine’s day is this week.  Throw a little love to Cabrini college and NOT-so-much to BSC and colleges who believe a snippet of data is a good thing.

Here are some of the news stories and commentaries that follow.

• Colleges turn to older students to stem enrollment crisis
• Birmingham-Southern could get second chance at state bailout
• Scott Carlson  Chronicle - What’s Really Behind the View That Higher Ed Isn’t Worth It?
• WIU spring enrollment down 500 students, international numbers still high
• Athletics in the Small-College Marketplace
• Cabrini University does the closure process well.

This week's podcast episode has news and commentary on:

1. Top heavy Cornell
2. The FAFSA delay
3. Spin. Spin. Spin.  This time I will drill through the laughable spin that SIU Carbondale is putting on its Spring 2024 enrollment.
4. Spin. Spin. Spin.  Take 2:   Sarasota Spring (NY)
   NOTE:  I will 'go to the data' for both.
5. UConn has good basketball programs, but serious budget issues.
6. Possible book title:  How NOT to run a college in the 21st century.  (Webster University)
7. What would an episode of TWICV be without a story about Birmingham Southern College.  This time we drill down on their president’s ChatGPT-generated responses to questions from the Birmingham Business Journal.

Welcome to a special episode of This Week in College Viability. We're going to be talking with a couple of gentlemen who lead the Transformation Collaborative.

Wallace Pond and Anthony (Tony) Bieda are my guests.  Their organization is rethinking the whole consultancy model itself, plus rethinking the how we bring value in the higher education space, what would that look like?

During our discussion, some of the questions I ask are:

1. What happens to higher education in the next 1-5 years?
2. If faculty can't adapt, can the higher education industry be reasonably expected to adjust to changing market conditions?
3. Do they see more and more families moving to the relative safety of public colleges over private colleges.  (Note:  they make an interesting observation about regional public colleges.)

Larenda Mielke Senior Vice President, Higher Education at Kaufman Hall

She has extensive leadership experience in higher education in the areas of strategy, curriculum and program development, accreditation, strategy execution, and financial modeling.  She has consulted with multiple universities across the world.

She posts articles on higher education regularly.  In this episode, we focus on her recent postings.
1. How Many Swings Can You Afford to Get a Hit?  Larenda strongly encourage colleges with clear financial challenges to consider new partnership models.

2.  "Financial Reserves Build Institutional Resilience for Colleges and Universities" She touches on the special challenges for smaller, private colleges.

3.  "Tuition Pricing: When the Road Less Traveled May Not Be the Best Solution."  Ms. Mielke discusses what KaufmanHall is seeing with its clients and others.

Special Note:  The 2024 version of the College Viability app is out very shortly.  'Click here to reserve a seat for one of the 8 FREE webinars I will host in February and March.

For the week of January 29, 2024:

More officials leave Fontbonne and Webster Universities amid enrollment troubles

College enrollment picks up for the first time in over a decade — but student loan debt is still a major sticking point – NBC New York 

Three More Major Universities Reveal Plans For Budget Cuts  -- Michael T. Nietzel

Flagships Are Enrolling More and More Freshmen From Out of State

Rick Seltzer’s Jan 24 email newsletter focused on deferred maintenance at colleges - When maintenance can’t be deferred (No link available)

Western Oregon University Adopts New Grading System

Chasing Tuition Coupons is Changing College Choices