Struggling Colleges’ Predicted Dilemma: Merge or Close Up Shop

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:58:00 GMT

Over the next few years, more small, private colleges may be faced with the decision to either merge with another school or close their doors as rising energy costs, increased competition for students, and the lingering credit crisis eat away at these private colleges’ profit margins, according to an article in Inside Higher Ed (“Will More Colleges Merge?,” Aug. 25, 2008).

The economic downturn that is threatening both families’ ability to pay for college and donors’ ability to continue financially supporting schools to the same extent they have in the past, may mean that “colleges in difficulty are going to be willing to try more ambitious solutions such as mergers,” says Richard Ekman, president of the Council of Independent Colleges. This month, Woodbury College in Vermont announced it would merge with fellow state school Champlain College. In July, California schools John F. Kennedy University and National University joined together.

Ekman wonders if other small colleges, which have typically “found amazingly imaginative ways to thrive” under financial hardship, may also be on the verge of merging or closing. Other industry experts contend that the private sector of higher education has always been in some degree of flux with colleges constantly having to adapt to demographic changes and students’ shifting interests.

“There will be a handful of colleges opening, closing or merging [every year],” says David Warren, president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. But Warren sees “no compelling evidence that we are entering a new era of consolidation in private higher education.”

Private Colleges Experiment With New Ways to Stay Afloat

Still others argue that the number of colleges officially merging may understate the extent to which small colleges are considering radical changes in order to survive, writes Inside Higher Ed reporter Scott Jaschik. More colleges are turning to collaborative partnerships with other universities to keep their doors open.

Last year, Shimer College, a small independent liberal arts school that bases its education model on small class seminars and emphasizes the study of classical literature, relocated 40 miles away to the Chicago campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology. This year, Shimer also started a joint B.A./J.D. program with the Chicago-Kent College of Law.

The moves were needed, Shimer officials say, to help the “great books” college, which was struggling to keep enrollment at 100, attract new students. This year, enrollment at Shimer is up by 25 students.

Robert Zemsky, CEO of the Learning Alliance for Higher Education, an organization that advises colleges and universities on market strategies, predicts that mergers may grow in their appeal among both small, cash-strapped colleges and financially secure schools that see merging as a better way to grow enrollment and diversify their offerings.

This merger trend could be a blow to the U.S. system of higher education, Ekman says. “The diversity of the types of American colleges and universities has always been the wonderful strength of the American system,” he says. “To me, it’s a shame when any college goes out of business or needs to sacrifice its distinct identity.”

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Millions in Grant Money Go to California Colleges for Stem-Cell Research

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:44:00 GMT

Twelve academic institutions in California recently received approximately $271 million in grant money from a state agency to construct laboratories for stem-cell research, according to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (“In California, Millions Are Distributed for Stem-Cell Research,” May 8, 2008).

The funds, divided into 12 grants, represent the largest single chunk of money distributed from a $3 billion bond authorized by Californians in 2004 to help make the state the world leader in stem cell research.

The University of California system is the largest recipient of the grant money, where 9 of its 10 campuses were grantees. Such well-known institutions as Stanford University, The Scripps Research Institute, and the University of Southern California also received funding.

"We're very excited about what has been made possible today," said Arnold Kriegstein, director of the Institute for Regeneration Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, another grant recipient.

The grants will be used for the construction of approximately 800,000 square feet of research labs, which will be manned by about 2,200 graduate students, faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, and scientists.

Scientists will use the new facilities to study stem cells, the precursors to every type of cell in humans, in an effort to better understand diseases and to develop clinical studies of new therapies and grow replacement tissue for the body, according to the Chronicle.

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Student Loan Blog : California schools

Struggling Colleges’ Predicted Dilemma: Merge or Close Up Shop

Millions in Grant Money Go to California Colleges for Stem-Cell Research