On August 21^st, our last blog, “For Whom the Blog Tolls!”, concentrated on the steady march of private colleges toward extinction (For Whom the Bell Tolls? | Stevens Strategy – Educational Consulting).  In the last week, Hodges University in Florida joined the ranks of fallen flags and Cox College folded into a merger.

As workers in the field of higher education, we are concerned about the financial viability of private colleges and universities. We are working diligently to develop a Vulnerability Model that will reliably forecast the closures of private colleges in the face of powerful economic, demographic, and financial constraints.  We are beginning to get promising results from our tests of this Vulnerability Model, which utilizes both traditional and new measures of financial health.

This model will do more than predict the financial vulnerability of a private college or university; it will also provide channels for boards and presidents to focus strategic responses.

Please keep in touch with the Stevens Strategy Blog as we report on the model. You can find us at: Higher Education Policy and Practice Blog (stevensstrategy.com)