One of our first looks at this in the Northeast was the closing of Mount Ida College in Newton, MA. The school was in debt and was struggling to fill spots and also lacked an endowment. In a controversial move, UMASS Amherst, close to 90 minutes away, bought the college to use as a career center for many of its Boston area graduates and Boston area employers of its students. There will be more Mount Idas down the road, but this won’t impact the stress on future applicants of most schools discussed on this website. More importantly, the state flagships will become increasingly competitive as a great cost effective option. Private universities, even elite ones, understand that they will need to limit increases in cost by cost of living increases. The current increases are not sustainable.