Inside Higher Education in a December article reported on sixteen nonprofit colleges that had closed in 2024.  We were interested in what our financial risk model had predicted for these colleges.  We have data for the time frame 2017 to 2022 on nine of the sixteen colleges.  The financial risk

Announcing Our Latest Resource for Higher Education Leaders We’re thrilled to announce the release of TIPS on Leadership in Higher Education: Observations, Tools, and Tactics by Dr. Michael K. Townsley, a distinguished leader in higher education and one of our esteemed Senior Consultants. This

What is a Financial Crisis Essentially, all financial crises are cash based. Simply put, if there is no cash, there is no college. In most cases, the crisis is cumulative, and the cause or causes have depleted cash over several years until a point is reached where there is insufficient cash for

Preface Strategic planners need to pay attention to corporate and legal documents that can delimit decisions needed to support strategic change. Corporate documents refer to the charter, by-laws, and mission statement of the college, while legal documents may comprise both explicit and implied

Failure Has Many Causes Why are some colleges seemingly collapsing overnight?  There are many causes for some private colleges surviving at the brink, but it takes a particular set of circumstances for a sudden collapse.  What follows are factors that could drive a massive financial crisis.