For College Finances, There’s No ‘Return to Normal: The critical problems facing higher education won’t end with the pandemic

Which of these colleges are truly at risk? Since 2016, colleges have failed for many reasons: changing demographics, fewer students with a religious background (impacting the many small colleges with a religious affiliation), a drop in interest in single-sex institutions, and changing student preferences for urban over rural environments. Several colleges that were in a weakened state already have been pushed out of existence over the past year, and others have declared financial exigency, including public institutions such as Central Washington University and Missouri Western State University. Visiting students and their parents expect a brand-new library, top-notch athletic facilities (even for non-athletes), superior dining, and frivolities unrelated to the core mission of the college (rock-climbing walls, floating rivers, and hot tubs). If the market for a college education were more concentrated — if there were fewer institutions — the futility of this exercise would become obvious, and the competition to offer ever more and better facilities would cease.