“I didn’t think this school (college) could possibly run out of money,”

“I didn’t think this school could possibly run out of money,”

This quote from a student was reported in a Boston Magazine story about a private college that has closed in the past two years in the Northeast.

It is beyond obvious that there are too many small and medium-sized private colleges in financial chaos.  It is equally obvious that there are too many students, families, and others living their lives without any knowledge that their college is not going to survive.

Releasein90 is the hashtag being used to demand that private colleges release their audited financial statements within 90 days of the end of their fiscal year.  Currently, it is 12-18 months before these finances appear in the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) database.  Private colleges can post their financial statements to their web site without having the excuse of waiting for the NCES to publish.

Other industries release their financial statements every 90 days and 4 times per year.  It is no longer acceptable for private colleges to delay and hide their finances to the point that their students, families, and other stakeholders cannot access the information in a much more timely manner.

While it is unlikely many parents or the college counselors in high schools will have the time or skills needed to analyze this data, there is an abundant supply of higher education industry-watchers to do that reporting - including collegeviability.com.

Financial results from the fiscal years 2017-2018, most of which ended in June 2018, are still not available to the public. Those critical financial results won't be released by the National Center for Education Statistics until the Fall of 2019.  That will be too late for students who have already chosen their college for this academic year.

If you are a student, family member, faculty, staff, or community member, contact your private college today and ask them to send you their audited 2018 financial statements.  Those same colleges have timely information about your finances.  You should have the same timely access to theirs.

You can share them with gary@collegeviability.com