The University of Maryland<\/p>\n
The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Across the country, colleges are in crisis.<\/p>\n
Fewer students went back to school again this year, dragging undergraduate enrollment down another 3.5% from last year, according to a reportfrom the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.<\/p>\n
Combined with last autumn's declines, the number of undergraduate students in college is now down 7.8% compared to two years ago the largest two-year enrollment drop in the last 50 years, the report found.<\/p>\n
There is, however, a wide disparity among schools, with less selective institutions and those serving low- and middle-income students seeing the biggest drop in enrollments.<\/p>\n
Community college enrollment experienced the steepest declines, now down 15% since 2019, while highly selective colleges notched enrollment gains up 3.1% to return to pre-pandemic levels.<\/p>\n
The consequences of fewer students and less tuition revenue could be severe, according to Sam Pollack, a partner and senior member of NEPC's Endowments and Foundations practice.<\/p>\n
In fact, 62% of higher education leaders said that is the biggest challenge they now face, according to a recent NEPC survey.<\/p>\n
More from Personal Finance:Less than half of high schoolers want to go to a four-year collegeHere are the colleges with the best return on investmentHow to maximize your college financial aid<\/p>\n
Already, a number of small schools have had to shut down entirely.<\/p>\n
Recently, Bloomfield College in New Jersey, which was founded in 1868,said it may be forced to close after the current academic year.<\/p>\n
\"Bloomfield College has been struggling with a decade-long decline in enrollment,\" Bloomfield's President Marcheta Evans said in a letter to the community. \"The resulting financial challenges have only been exacerbated by the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\"And, Bloomfield is not alone,\" she added. Judson College in Alabama,Becker Collegein Massachusetts andConcordia College New Yorkalso plan to close, among others.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the country's most elite institutions are faring better than ever and have the financial cushion to prove it.<\/p>\n
This year, a small group of universities, including many in the Ivy League, experienced a record-breaking increase in applications and net revenue gains.<\/p>\n
These schools also reported record-breaking gains for their endowments largely due to investments in private equity or venture capital, according to Pollack. Some endowments grew more than 50%.<\/p>\n
As a result, universities such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Princeton are able to expand their financial aid offerings, lowering the cost and increasing the appeal to even more students nationwide.<\/p>\n
\"They are often made to be the villains, but the vast majority of these institutions are working very hard to deploy those funds to the benefit of students,\" Pollack said.<\/p>\n
In fact, the top schools for financial aidare all private and their very generous aid packages can make them surprisingly affordable, despite the eye-popping sticker prices.<\/p>\n
\"If the highly selective schools are able to subsidize that cost, it makes it even more compelling and that has broad implications for the higher education landscape,\" Pollack said.<\/p>\n
At Yale, for example, tuition and fees plus books, room and board averaged$77,750 this year, according to data from The Princeton Review, but the average need-based scholarship award or free money was just over $59,000 bringing the total out-of-pocket cost down to roughly $22,000.<\/p>\n
\"That hefty sticker cost might be intimidating, but find out the average cost that students and parents are actually paying,\" said Robert Franek, The Princeton Review's editor-in-chief.<\/p>\n
\"It could end up being less expensive than your local public college.\"<\/p>\n
But without the same resources, less competitive schools are in danger of losing even more students, widening the divide, Pollack said.<\/p>\n
Like what is happening to the nation as a whole, \"there is increasing bifurcation between the haves and have nots and that appears to be true in higher education.\"<\/p>\n
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More colleges face bankruptcy even as top schools experience record wealth - CNBC<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The University of Maryland The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty Images Across the country, colleges are in crisis. Fewer students went back to school again this year, dragging undergraduate enrollment down another 3.5% from last year, according to a reportfrom the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Combined with last autumn's declines, the number of undergraduate students in college is now down 7.8% compared to two years ago the largest two-year enrollment drop in the last 50 years, the report found Continue reading