About 40% of American colleges enroll 1000 or fewer students.  Another 40% enroll 1000 – 5000 students. Most are dependent on tuition fees and don’t have decades of giving by alumnae behind them.  The smaller colleges are competing for a shrinking number of students.  The huge amount of money spent by their larger competitors on sport and facilities means that they cannot compete unless they have some unique thing to offer.  Moreover, the Southern states and to some extent the Western ones, will account for the growth of high school graduates over the next decade, leaving the North and Eastern states in steady decline. To add to the complexity, the number of Hispanic students is expected to grow substantially, and the smaller colleges are unprepared for this diversity, or, at least, for recruiting Hispanics. The successful trick seems to be to offer a broad liberal arts education along with specific technical training, concentration on the health sector being a good example; then aggressively recruiting students within a 150 mile radius.  (based on an article in the Wasington Post by Jeffrey Selingo)

The result of not having an effective recruitment strategy has been that some colleges are discounting their fees by as much as 47%.  Notwithstanding this, 40% of them missed their recruitment targets last year.  A neighbour of ours whose job involves advising colleges and universities on the recruitment of students, told us years ago that he foresaw a mass bankruptcy of a lot of smaller educational establishments without big endowments.  Fees are too high, the fear of huge student indebtedness too scary – poorer kids are beginning to skip the college experience, which is a great shame for them and bad for the country.  Not all colleges overspend on sports and other expensive facilities, or overpay their principals, but nonetheless further education is going to be beyond the reach of all too many young people.