Future of Division III

[IC798891]

I have to think that the cuts are partially budget related because basically every Division I athletics department is struggling to adjust to the pay to play.  But if you know otherwise...

The Syracuse Provost has been quoted as saying they aren't. We don't have to take them at their word but, to me, the relevant detail is this:

"No positions or departments have been slated for elimination"

They're not eliminating, for example, the professors who teach French and Francophone Studies. They're simply eliminating the ability to pursue it as a major.

Just as a D3 example, Ithaca College offers a degree in World Languages and Cultures, and minors in various specific languages -- one being French and Francophone Studies. There are also other degree programs at the college that require taking a second language as part of the degree requirements. Also, people may just want to take some of these programs' courses as general electives.

So you still need professors who can teach French, even without a French major. And that's your main cost

[WUPHF]

"No positions or departments have been slated for elimination"

They're not eliminating, for example, the professors who teach French and Francophone Studies. They're simply eliminating the ability to pursue it as a major.

Yet. This is higher education and restructuring is more complicated than for most sectors.

[DagarmanSpartan]

There was a WSJ article today that stated that it is small, private colleges that are being most affected by declining enrollments and falling revenues.  I suppose that that could disproportionately affect D3, as some here have claimed.

That same article, however, said that Ivies, major universities, and big-time athletic schools appear to be unaffected.  I didn't get to read the whole thing because it was behind a paywall, but perhaps a subscriber here could elaborate more fully on it.

[scottiedoug]

Meanwhile, there are strong cases to be made for the significance of such schools....

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/01/liberal-arts-college-war-higher-ed/685800/?gift=VwONRSVu98S8RoX3SzCvW-6JB9ocN43KrRvRGhcsy9c&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

[DagarmanSpartan]

How about this?

Forbes just published its 2026 list of "The New Ivies."  This is the third year that Forbes has published such a list.

There are 20 total, 10 public and 10 private.

Five of the ten privates are D3 schools: Carnegie-Mellon, Case Western Reserve U., Emory, Washington U-St. Louis, and Tufts.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/aliciapark/2026/04/08/the-new-ivies-20-great-employer-friendly-colleges-embracing-ai/

This year's list puts a premium on schools that embrace AI fully.

[Patrick Coleman]

There was a WSJ article today that stated that it is small, private colleges that are being most affected by declining enrollments and falling revenues.  I suppose that that could disproportionately affect D3, as some here have claimed.

As we have been saying here for literally years.

[Kuiper]

Anna Maria College Might Have to Close Within 18 Months

The state is going through contingency planning with Anna Maria College in Paxton, after determining that the school may not have sufficient finances to stay open for the next 18 months.

The Catholic college's leadership said the serious financial pressures "reflect both longstanding structural challenges in the higher education sector and the particular impact of enrollment declines on a small, tuition-dependent institution." Massachusetts has seen a spate of closures and consolidations among smaller higher education outfits in recent years — at least 24 between 2014 and 2022, according to state officials.

The Department of Higher Education on Friday posted a notice declaring that it "cannot confirm that the Anna Maria College has sufficient resources to be able to sustain operations at current levels and substantially fulfill its obligations to enrolled and admitted students for both the current and the subsequent academic year."

The notice was required under a financial assessment and risk monitoring process that grew out of the state's response to the 2018 closure of Mt. Ida College in Newton.

Anna Maria is working to develop "an orderly process in case the institution decides not to sustain operations at or near current levels over the next 18 months," the state said, and is required to come up with academic options and pathways, organize robust student support services, and communicate timely notifications to relevant stakeholders.

[Kuiper]

From the specific (Anna Maria) to the more general

Many Private Colleges at Risk of Closing

A new estimate projects that 442 of the nation's 1,700 private, nonprofit four-year colleges and universities, with a combined 670,000 students, are at risk of closing or having to merge within the next 10 years.

More than 120 institutions are at the very highest risk, according to the forecast by Huron Consulting Group, which helps clients in industries including higher education formulate business strategies. For its assessment, the company analyzed enrollment trends, tuition revenue, assets, debt, cash on hand and other measures.

There are about 3,700 two- and four-year public and private degree-granting colleges and universities in the United States. That's already down from a peak of 4,726 in 2012. Almost all that have closed since then were private, for-profit schools, which enjoyed a brief boom before crashing under the weight of consumer discontent and increased regulation.

Many converging reasons explain why private, nonprofit colleges and universities, too, are now under existential strain.

There are already 2.3 million fewer students than there were in 2010. A drop in the birthrate that began around the same time means there is about to be a further downward slide in the number of 18-year-olds through at least 2041.

Among the other factors:

    The proportion of high school graduates who go on to college is also down, from 70% in 2016 to 61% in 2023, the most recent year for which the figure is available.
    The number of visas issued for new full-tuition-paying international students coming to the United States plummeted by nearly 100,000 this year, or 36%.
    And looming caps on federal loans for graduate study, which take effect in July, threaten to reduce demand for yet another crucial revenue source.

While higher education institutions previously weathered short-lived declines in enrollment and increases in costs, today "every major revenue stream and expense category is under pressure at the same time," the higher education consulting firm EAB warns in a new analysis.

Eighty-six percent of college and university leaders are worried about their schools' long-term financial viability, according to a survey in December by the American Council on Education, the principal industry association. A fifth of college and university presidents say they've had serious discussions about merging with another university or college, a separate survey by Hanover Research and the industry news site Inside Higher Ed found.

And nearly a third of private, nonprofit colleges and universities nationwide posted deficits in 2024, according to research by Robert Kelchen, director of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

And it's not just small schools that are affected.

Even public universities and colleges are facing deepening financial problems, reports the Fitch bond-rating agency, citing slowing economic growth and federal policy changes.

The University of Southern California has sent pink slips to more than 900 employees. Stanford University, Northwestern University, and Depaul University have also seen layoffs.

And, as part of what its president called a "broader strategy to strengthen GW's long-term financial health," George Washington University announced in March that it had sold a satellite science and technology campus in Virginia for what the student newspaper reported was $427 million.

[IC798891]

That NPR article picked a really bad anecdote for their story. I'm not trying to sound heartless here, but everything I read about Sterling indicates it...wasn't a very good/representative college.

It's one of just nine "work colleges" in the entire country. And for graduation rates US News and World report has the 4-year number at 29%, six year I've seen anywhere from 40-50%. Both are well below the national average.

"Twenty-year-old Izzy Johnson has already been buffeted by this. The college he originally wanted to attend closed the month before he graduated from high school. So he enrolled as a freshman in the fall at Sterling — only to learn a few months later that it would also close."

I'm not trying to pile on here, but this student appears to have done very little research on the long-term viability of the colleges they picked. Like it or not, if you're going to pick a super small, specialized college, you probably should do some digging into its financial future

[Gray Fox]

From the NPR article:

That NPR article picked a really bad anecdote for their story. I'm not trying to sound heartless here, but everything I read about Sterling indicates it...wasn't a very good college.

US News and World report has the 4-year number at 29%.

"Twenty-year-old Izzy Johnson has already been buffeted by this. The college he originally wanted to attend closed the month before he graduated from high school. So he enrolled as a freshman in the fall at Sterling — only to learn a few months later that it would also close."

I'm not trying to pile on here, but this student appears to have done very little research on the long-term viability of the colleges they picked. 

I think students trust the system.  But he should have had a advisor to send him in the right direction.

[IC798891]

I think students trust the system.  But he should have had a advisor to send him in the right direction.

Yeah. It's 2026, the Internet makes this kind of research easier to do. Adults in trusted positions -- parents, guidance counselors -- can't just be oblivious to some of this stuff.

Twenty years ago, when I was getting a masters' degree and I was considering a PhD, there was a faculty member who asked me what kind of teaching/research I'd be interested in doing. I told him I wanted to do something similar to what another faculty member at the college was doing. His response:

"I don't know that there are a lot of colleges who are hiring people like that. In fact, I'm not sure we'd hire him today."

It was a pretty important wakeup call.