Economy Takes Its Toll: Some Small Colleges to Shut Their Doors

Student Loan Girl — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:59:00 GMT

Americans could see more college closures, particularly among small schools with shrinking enrollment numbers as the slowing economy continues to claim more victims across every sector, The Associated Press reports (“College Closings Rare, but Could Rise in Downturn,” Nov, 17, 2008).

While the American Council on Education reported that only four out of 4,400 colleges closed in all of 2007, this year alone, four schools have announced they will either shut down certain branch campuses or close entirely by next school year.

Tuition costs that far exceed what state schools charge, diminishing enrollment numbers, and mounting debt loads have made it increasingly difficult for some small colleges, most notably those with religious affiliations, to stay afloat in recent years.

And now the same effects from the mishaps that took down the mortgage industry have bled into the higher education sector. Some schools may be discovering, much like many American consumers and homeowners, that the allure of low-interest loans caused them to take on more debt than they should have. The median debt of private colleges has increased 50 percent in the last five years, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

But now, like homeowners with variable-rate mortgages, some schools have seen their once low debt payments skyrocket to unmanageable proportions.

“Instead of holding long-term debt at lower interest rates, they have gotten stuck with short-term obligations at higher rates — a scenario [colleges] knew existed on paper but never expected to happen,” writes Justin Pope of The Associated Press.

Faith-Based Schools Hardest Hit by Economic Decline

Cascade College, a small Christian school in Portland, Ore. with just 280 students, announced it will be shutting down after the current academic year as it continues to struggle with a $4 million debt load. as will Pillsbury Baptist Bible College in Owatonna, Minn. and Vennard College in University Park, Iowa. Vennard, with just 80 students, will close its doors two years shy of its 100-year anniversary.

Taylor University in Indiana, another Christian institution, will shut down the undergraduate program at its Fort Wayne branch.

Paul Corts, president of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, said the financial crisis has become a “very serious” problem. “I think people are sensing that this is not short-term. It’s something that’s going to take a couple of years to play out.”

Enrollment at the council’s 102 member schools grew 71 percent between 1990 and 2004, and Corts said he doesn’t foresee that many of its schools will be closing.

He adds, however, that school closures may be difficult to predict because, “Nobody knows what the ultimate extent of this whole financial crisis is going to be.”

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Sen. Hillary Clinton Unveils Plan to Tackle the Student Loan Crisis

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:56:00 GMT

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton recently announced the details of a sweeping plan to help ensure students have continued access to federal student loans amid a flurry of private lenders leaving the federal student loan program.

“Hundreds of thousands of students who are actively considering how to finance their education could be left in the lurch, without the ability to pay for college,” Clinton wrote in a press release on April 25.

Clinton urged the Bush administration to act quickly to support her plan, which includes:

Creating a way for colleges to quickly make a switch from the Federal Family Education Loan Program to the Department of Education’s Direct Loan Program — a move that currently takes colleges about six weeks.

Allowing parents’ applications for credit-based federal PLUS loans to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Currently, parents will be denied outright for the low-cost federal loans if they have defaulted on a mortgage, or if they are 90 days late on a loan payment.

Authorizing the Education Department to advance money to state or private entities that issue student loans and to purchase federally guaranteed loans from private lenders that are no longer able to service the loans.

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Student Loan Blog : mortgage meltdown

Economy Takes Its Toll: Some Small Colleges to Shut Their Doors

Sen. Hillary Clinton Unveils Plan to Tackle the Student Loan Crisis