I suspect that as the financial situation and enrolment numbers of a college decline and they are getting more and more desperate to just fill their seats, students’ levels of preparedness and other resources decline as well. Hail Mary situation for both sides, and when the wheels come off, it reveals rather than causes failure.
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On another thread, a parent raised a concern about Drew University (still open of course). But it makes you wonder, if others think like this as well, does this foreshadow a closing at some point as parent/students like this may stay away?
I tried to find their bond rating and I could but I can’t find anything after 2017 but also another article from 2021.
Pricey N.J. college gets stung by credit agency junk rating - nj.com
NJ private colleges’ financial health at risk since before COVID (northjersey.com)
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There was an issue at Drew with the town suing them to prevent the sale of land a few years ago. When a school starts selling off assets and borrowing from its endowment, they are obviously attempting to fill holes.
As a Jersey resident, the “local” schools have suffered as the cache and branding of colleges exploded in the 90s onward. NJ has very highly rated K-12 schools, and those kids now make up some of the largest populations in private schools outside of NJ. Look at the NESCAC and Centennial schools… and NJ always has a large population.
It’s also the public schools. I’ve posted this before, but I’m shocked every year at the number of kids in NJ who attend Delaware instead of Rutgers. Some of that may be just getting in… but there are a lot of NJ kids at Delaware, Maryland, Penn State, and other flagships. The reputation of NJ colleges just isn’t that great (minus Princeton of course). That reputation is hurting the small private schools a great deal.
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Forbes 2023 financial ratings gave Drew a D.
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It’s the other way around, Drew sued the town; Drew wants to sell the forest to the town. The lawsuit was about whether or not the forest should have been included in the calculation of “vacant lands” that established the town’s obligation to build affordance housing (the forest was excluded, but, as I understand, its inclusion would allow Drew to get market value for it).
(I was the parent who raised the question, by the way. My son remains very interested in Drew, and we are certainly going to apply).
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Gotcha. Drew borrowing from the endowment and selling assets don’t suggest financial strength.
For sure, it seems not in the greatest shape financially. But I did some research, and I don’t think it’s on the verge of closing.
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I brought it up only because another poster on a different thread (who just posted here) said they had concerns.
I was simply asking - do posters like that (and obviously they are one of many of the same process) start to foreshadow this.
I don’t know the depts of the alumni they can tap to raise money - but it seems like - whether in a year or 10 or 20, this type thing could happen.
At a BBQ yesterday, a discussion about UA closing broke out. One person, active in Philly real estate believes that Temple will acquire UA, now that John Fry has been announced as the President-elect at Temple (from Drexel). Fry has stated to those who deal with him that he wants to merge with UA.
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Temple’s board chair Mitch Morgan almost immediately started (publicly) discussing a merger upon UA’s closing announcement. I am sure Temple would like UA’s real estate, but because Temple’s a public uni, getting a merger done has additional considerations and needs more approvals than by just the two unis involved.
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When I was in college in the 1970’s in Boston there was a large contingent of New Jerseyites on campus. NJ’s largest export is 18-year-olds and has been for a long time. Excluding Princeton there are no really selective schools there. The largest Catholic college is Seton Hall, the state’s Jesuit college is tiny St. Peter’s, no selective LAC’s and Rutgers is a good but not top flagship.
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Seemed that way to me in Boston late 80s as well.
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My daughter went to school in Florida and it seemed that every or 4th or 5th kid I met was from NJ (including her boyfriend and best friend).
But aren’t NJ schools full? Is Rutgers having trouble attracting students? Are the other NJ publics hurting for students?
Given that Rutgers-Camden sent a lot of promotional material to both my C23 and C25 in Alaska—not a state known for sending students to New Jersey—I kind of wonder.
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The NJ trend is not awesome, see starting p3 of the following report. I don’t know how many seats by school are unfilled, but….
The good news is that first time students are increasing:
Rutgers isn’t in danger of going out of business of course, but undergrad enrollment is down.
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Rutgers joined the Common App for the 2024 cycle so it should see an increase in apps. A lot of NJ parents were complaining that admission became harder for their NJ-based students this year, for the main New Brunswick campus.
As a long time NJ resident (but original transplant from CA), i continue to remain surprised/disappointed that NJ doesn’t have a more robust set of in-state colleges. It was very surprisingly when we got here, having come from a state with dozens of great options. NJ students consistently top the National Merit qualification cut-off. The state has the raw material in seems, but lacks the political will to appropriately invest in great colleges. If anything, they seem to go out of their way to invest in anything but, like they now are with their ridiculous taxpayer deficit funding of the Rutgers sports program.
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I’m one of the Jerseyites who left the state in the 1970s to go to college in Massachusetts. Your comments are spot-on. I can’t think of anyone from my small high school class who stayed instate for college. The schools you mentioned (except for Princeton) were too local and nobody wanted to be a commuter student back then.
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Interesting article on the FAFSA headache… will be interesting to see how many schools might get hit by end of the fall.
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Rutgers has been morphing and changing for 40+ years, and the result has been a rollercoaster of reputation and attractiveness.
Rutgers in the 70s and 80s was a consortium, with 4 campuses each having their own administration, departments, core curriculum, applications, etc. Back then, Rutgers College was a competitive LAC option. Douglas was women only; Busch was engineering and sciences; Livingston was created in the 60s in response to the social movements of the day. In the 80s, there were departmental consolidations across some of the campuses (why have an English chair in 3 or 4 spots), and classes/schedules spread to all of the campuses.
In the 80s, very good students at my private high school were very proud of being accepted to Rutgers College. Busch was good for the science crowd too. Douglass and Livingston were seen as safeties.
In the late 70s/early 80s, applicants received an acceptance letter from each school they applied to separately. One applicant might get 4 letters… at different times… it was a consortium outside of university-wide sports.
In 2007, the school reorganized into Rutgers University, dropping the college names and degrees. As noted above, Rutgers did not use the common app, which hurt their statistics, which hurts the perception of the school, which makes it less appealing for kids in NJ (who are good students and competitive).
Ironically, the honors college at RU is a bit of what used to be Rutgers College… more difficult admissions, and a bit more swagger.
As for commuting, Rutgers then wasn’t a commuter school. Sure, there were a lot of Jersey kids, but almost everyone who went directly from high school lived on campus or in New Brunswick.
As I posted above about the tour, Rutgers just feels lost between what it was and what it wants to be. NJ should support in-state students who attend Rutgers more, but at some level I think they wonder why bother.
I also think that the success at Rowan is pushing Rutgers to be and do more. I went to parties at Glassboro State before Mr. Rowan gave them $100M, and it made Rutgers look like Princeton. Now it is getting competitive in several majors, and the facilities and surrounding town are very nice. TCNJ has also seen its reputation fall a bit recently… not sure why (or it’s just my interactions).
New Jersey kids have always gone to PA, NY, CT, and MA for college. Proximity makes it easy. My NJ kids went to school in PA…both less than 45 mins from home. Princeton is the exception in NJ…but it also happens to be about an hour from both NY and Philly. The lack of a top notch flagship is primarily about location.
Look at the map… a NJ kid is as close or closer to the Ivy league as anyone else, and Rutgers is sitting on the same train line as Yale, Columbia, Princeton, and Penn.
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When I talked to them this was some information they gave me. Drew, like many other small private schools, is dependent on enrollment and therefore tuition for revenue. In the early to mid 2010’s there was a significant drop in enrollment that led to budget deficits. Enrollment started to swing back up prior to the pandemic in 2020, with 2 of the largest first year classes ever enrolling in 2018 and 2019. The Pandemic had a big effect on enrollment and we dropped back down again. The financial information you see online reflects those circumstances. We have been working hard to build back the enrollment and it is working. Last year, we had the largest enrollment since 2018. This year, we hit a record number of applications, are seeing a big rebound in our international student enrollment, and we’re expecting a first year class with a similar size to last year. We have taken measures to reduce costs not related to the student academic and social experience and we are looking at a balanced budget in FY25. Although they cannot make any guarantees, they seem confident in Drew University’s ability to not only stay open, but to thrive. My daughter has ultimately decided to give it a go and attend this fall. She really connected to the school and all the things they offer. We are out of state from Ohio. As she said nothing is guaranteed tomorrow and she is doing what feels right for now. If things change in the future then she will deal with it then. She has been through some tough times in the past so if something feels right and brings her some happiness she is going to go for it.
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