Financial Viability Information About Private Colleges

Anyone who has gone through the college search and selection process knows the type of effort needed to submit the required financial information.  Colleges and universities know much about family finances.  However, families and students don't know much about the finances of those colleges.  Yet, there are an increasing number of private colleges and universities with demonstrable financial challenges. 

I have started a new company, College Viability, LLC to create resources that will provide parents, students, faculty, staff, and communities easy-to-read and easy-to-understand financial data about small and medium size private colleges.  The financial data from these private colleges will be from their audited financial statements from as late as 2018 and from the National Center for Education Statistics

Over the past three years, I have been compiling and analyzing financial data about small and medium sized private colleges and universities.  This research has been bolstered by the increasing frequency with which which private colleges are publicly acknowledging their financial struggles and uncertain futures.

In 2018, there were prominent and less-than-prominent closures and closure announcements.  The common theme was that these private colleges were unable to recruit enough students at a tuition rate that could keep those organizations open and viable.  There are too many colleges and too few students to successfully fill them.

One of the most prominent 2018 closures was Mt. Ida college, just outside of Boston.  The leadership of that organization announced to students, parents, faculty, staff, and the community in April that they were closing in May.

In early November 2018, Iowa Wesleyan University (IWU) announced that they may have to close for the Spring 2019 term.  Subsequent events appear to have at least postponed their demise.  My research shows a concerning number of other private colleges with similar audited financial statement profiles as those of Mt. Ida and IWU.

Economic and market factors are a constant reminder that the closures of 2018 will be followed by more closures and closure announcements in 2019 and beyond.  No amount of new programs and new recruiting initiatives will change those two basic factors.

More private colleges will close -- or change their business model soon.  College Viability will help students, parents, faculty, staff, and communities evaluate the risks of closures happening to the private colleges they are considering.

The site went live on February 1st.  I look forward to your review and input.

February 1, 2019