Are colleges at risk of closing?

[jym626]

@CC_Jon

@jym626

It seems ill advised to post an article like this (and then to link it to a thread here) potentially scaring students and steering them away from many schools that may survive just fine. Not my idea of good college advice, sorry to say.

Doesn’t it depend on whether these schools are actually at risk? Students that are stuck in a school that closes shop will have their education plans disrupted. So this is something students should consider when they make their decisions. Even before COVID, [there were schools closing](How many colleges and universities have closed since 2016? | Higher Ed Dive).

Now there does seem to be a risk that schools that end up on lists like this could be hurt because students avoid those schools. If those fears are unfounded, wouldn’t the best thing be to have that conversation? It’s not like CC is the only place students are getting their news.

I guess my agenda is to encourage on-topic conversations about college admissions to happen on CC rather than some other place on the internet. I’m happy to consider other ways to phrase the post and title. Unfortunately, many people won’t read much more than that, so it’s a fair criticism to say our framing of the issue is tipping the scales by being too clickbaity.

Yes, @CC_Jon , this should (and has been) be a place for useful information related to all things college (especially important for those articles posted by CC staff) and if there is reliable information about some colleges that may not survive the pandemic (see the college closings thread), that can of course be helpful. But to potentially scare students away from schools that may not be at risk for closing, based on some opinion (its NOT a “report”, a descriptor which I see you have changed, which is a start) with possibly contrived data manipulating and adding insult to injury by giving it a clickbait title is not at all, IMO, in students’ best interests nor helpful to them in the way that this forum has been. JMO.

Is it a good idea to look at/consider a school’s financial soundness/solvency as a factor in the college application process? Sure it is. Is it a good idea to scare students with some “henny penny the sky is falling!” OMG these schools are “on the brink” of “perishing”(when they very well may not be)? IMO that is ill advised. And if reps from any of those schools post here, they may not be too pleased. Best to look at the big picture, IMO, FWIW. Thank you for a at least toning down the histrionic verbiage in the OP.