Future of Division III

[y_jack_lok]

The future of Division III is housing.  Eastern Nazarene, Cazenovia, Iowa Wesleyan and other references.

https://globecollegetown.substack.com/p/closed-colleges-could-be-great-for-housing

This got me wondering what has become of the MacMurray College campus. A quick Google search turned this up:

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+macmurray+college+used+for+today+in+2026&sca_esv=239f60c903341dc9&sxsrf=APpeQnvutXp17qvqPEfu6lxOR5FD6ISPjw%3A1791382213954&ei=xVLGaoDqOY_Ap84PzOnW8Qg&ved=2ahUKEwjA4JPkiqiXAxUP4MkDHcy0NY4Q4dUDegQIBhAM&uact=5&oq=what+is+macmurray+college+used+for+today+in+2026&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiMHdoYXQgaXMgbWFjbXVycmF5IGNvbGxlZ2UgdXNlZCBmb3IgdG9kYXkgaW4gMjAyNjIFECEYoAEyBRAhGKABMgUQIRigATIFECEYoAEyBRAhGKABSP6eAVDwDli3mwFwAngAkAEAmAF6oAGTFqoBBTIwLjEwuAEDyAEA-AEBmAIfoALDFsICChAAGEcY1gQYsAPCAgYQABgHGB7CAgsQABiABBiKBRiGA8ICBRAAGO8FwgIIEAAYCBgHGB7CAgoQIRgKGKABGMMEwgIIECEYoAEYwwTCAgUQIRifBcICBRAhGKsCwgIFECEYkgOYAwCIBgGQBgiSBwUyMC4xMaAH7rMBsgcFMTguMTG4B7sWwgcEMi4yOcgHM4AIAQ&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

[WUPHF]

This got me wondering what has become of the MacMurray College campus. A quick Google search turned this up:

That is awesome.

Randomly, I have a friend who lives in St. Louis and is from Jacksonville.  Her father was on a few of the steering committees that worked on MacMurray related projects.  If I understand correctly, the community mobilized quickly and worked very hard to make things happen.

[Ron Boerger]

From yesterday's D3Playbook newsletter:

"There are basically two ways a college gets into trouble.

One is not having enough cushion to take continued blows: a couple of bad enrollment years or a hit to the budget, and there's not much in reserve to absorb them. The other shows up after students leave, when they're holding degrees that don't earn much and debt that takes a long time to pay down. Some schools have one of those problems and not the other.

Some, unfortunately, have both."

» Driving The News. "U.S. four-year colleges and universities face compounding pressures — demographic decline, fiscal stress, and artificial intelligence — that will reshape the sector over the next decade. This project maps where 1,557 institutions are structurally positioned across two dimensions, using public data anyone can verify."

This information has been presented in a different form here in the past, but if you'd like you can check out where your schools (or schools in your state, or a number of different options) sit at Kyle Saunders' site here.

[CNU85]

From yesterday's D3Playbook newsletter:

"There are basically two ways a college gets into trouble.

One is not having enough cushion to take continued blows: a couple of bad enrollment years or a hit to the budget, and there's not much in reserve to absorb them. The other shows up after students leave, when they're holding degrees that don't earn much and debt that takes a long time to pay down. Some schools have one of those problems and not the other.

Some, unfortunately, have both."

» Driving The News. "U.S. four-year colleges and universities face compounding pressures — demographic decline, fiscal stress, and artificial intelligence — that will reshape the sector over the next decade. This project maps where 1,557 institutions are structurally positioned across two dimensions, using public data anyone can verify."

This information has been presented in a different form here in the past, but if you'd like you can check out where your schools (or schools in your state, or a number of different options) sit at Kyle Saunders' site here.

Good stuff. I tend to agree with where CNU falls on the grid. I was slightly surprised where my Grad school placed. Upper far right. interesting. thanks for sharing

[Kuiper]

Three Straight Years of Underenrollment Means Colorado College is Short $14 million

A third consecutive year of underenrollment is forcing CC to cut operating budgets for departments across campus. The school relies more on tuition than endowment or philanthropy to pay the bills, so fewer students and a higher concentration who need financial aid means a shortfall of $12-14 million, according to a Sep. 14 interview with Chief Financial Officer Lori Seager.

CC is not alone. College enrollment is down nationwide, largely because of the "demographic cliff." Birthrates fell after the 2008 financial crisis, leaving a smaller generation of kids heading to college now.

The decline is so pronounced that CC is adjusting its enrollment target to about 2,000 students down from 2,160, its target in years past. The college currently enrolls about 1,950 students, according to Seager.

"When we began really talking seriously with the Board last February about the realities of enrollment for CC, we agreed that we would need to reduce the budget on the expense side," Seager said.

The college is saving money in a myriad of ways. Beyond cutting departmental budgets, it has instituted a freeze on salary raises and cost of living adjustments, offered eligible staff and faculty early retirement buyouts and intentionally left vacant positions unfilled, according to emails from former Dean of the Faculty Emily Chan and an interview with Seager.

Layoffs are not on the table yet. "If the College cannot achieve sufficient savings through the first two tiers, staffing reductions may need to be considered," Chan wrote in an email to faculty on May 20.

The Athletics Department took a different approach. Every varsity sports team, regardless of National Collegiate Athletic Association division, endowment or fundraising numbers, took a 10% cut, according to Irvine, the athletics director. "It was going to be really important for me to sit with each of the head coaches and ask them to present to me how they were going to do it," she told The Catalyst in an interview. "This isn't changing anything in terms of mission value."

Teams are saving money by buying less food, changing travel schedules to reduce nights spent in hotels and using in-house nutritionists instead of hiring someone outside the college, according to Irvine. The Strength and Conditioning Department stopped stocking the refrigerator in the weight room with snacks for athletes.

[Ron Boerger]

First off, for a student newspaper this article is immaculate.  Kudos to their journalism department (assuming they have one)

Lest anyone be concerned about the immediate future of CC, they have over $1.2B in their endowment and trusts.  But it is shocking to see a quality school have three straight years of declining enrollment, resulting in a reset to a lower student body target despite substantially increasing their acceptance rate; you know their financial aid packages have to be generous and it is a lovely campus in an appealing part of the world.  But it's far away from most of the country, and you have to get athletes (for that part of the population) that are willing to hop on a plane basically every other week.  Not such a big deal for the D1 part of the program but if you're focused on your studies that kind of regular disruption makes studies a challenge. 

Their goals of becoming recognized as a top 25 college (#34 in the most recent US News' National Liberal Arts ranking), 90% graduation (86% now), and 20% acceptance rate will not be an easy path to travel.  They increased the latter to 26% and still failed to meet enrollment goals this year.  And you're not going to save a lot of money or make a lot of positive impressions cutting back on the occasional free snack for students.

[Gray Fox]

First off, for a student newspaper this article is immaculate.  Kudos to their journalism department (assuming they have one)

Lest anyone be concerned about the immediate future of CC, they have over $1.2B in their endowment and trusts.  But it is shocking to see a quality school have three straight years of declining enrollment, resulting in a reset to a lower student body target despite substantially increasing their acceptance rate; you know their financial aid packages have to be generous and it is a lovely campus in an appealing part of the world.  But it's far away from most of the country, and you have to get athletes (for that part of the population) that are willing to hop on a plane basically every other week.  Not such a big deal for the D1 part of the program but if you're focused on your studies that kind of regular disruption makes studies a challenge. 

Their goals of becoming recognized as a top 25 college (#34 in the most recent US News' National Liberal Arts ranking), 90% graduation (86% now), and 20% acceptance rate will not be an easy path to travel.  They increased the latter to 26% and still failed to meet enrollment goals this year.  And you're not going to save a lot of money or make a lot of positive impressions cutting back on the occasional free snack for students.

Maybe they should reconsider the one course at a time concept.

[IC798891]

The Strength and Conditioning Department stopped stocking the refrigerator in the weight room with snacks for athletes.

Take a page from Ithaca College

https://athletics.ithaca.edu/news/2026/1/23/general-ic-athletics-partners-with-wegmans-to-unveil-new-student-athlete-refueling-station.aspx

[Kuiper]

I guess one strategy to combat declining interest in liberal arts colleges and undergrad declining enrollment is to open a law school.  After a decade or more of law schools closing, we'll see how this one fares.

Misericordia University Plans to Open New Law School

Misericordia University intends to establish the Misericordia University School of Law, a program designed to expand access to legal education, address workforce needs and prepare future attorneys committed to service, leadership and justice.

The school would be located at the Penn State Wilkes-Barre campus, pending a lease agreement between Misericordia and HGC Development, LLC, the entity recently approved by the Penn State Board of Trustees to acquire the campus following its closure in June 2027.

The university started the planning process more than a year ago, and now moves to the next phase of development, including:

    Recruitment of the founding dean and law school faculty.
    Pursuit of philanthropic support, including a $10 million campaign.
    Development of curriculum and experiential learning opportunities.
    Engagement with legal and community stakeholders.
    Completion of accreditation and state authorization processes.
    Preparation of instructional and support facilities.

Tuesday's announcement follows extensive preliminary research and consultation with the American Bar Association regarding legal education, attorney workforce trends, employer demand and opportunities to expand access to legal studies to the region, according to the university.

The law school will meet a national need, but more importantly a regional need, for well-educated legal professionals, according to the school. Employment of lawyers is projected to grow by 5% between 2025 and 2035, with approximately 28,700 job openings expected annually as new positions are created and experienced attorneys retire or leave the profession, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many rural and underserved communities continue to face significant shortages of legal professionals.

[MCScots2013]

I've noticed while traveling for work there's been some weirdly placed billboards for the SUNY system.

In recent memory I've seen some in the Philly area for the SUNY's to match in-state PA tuition and now, in D3-less SC, SUNY Maritime has a board up crossing the bridge from Charleston to Mount Pleasant.

[Ralph Turner]

The billboard for SUNT-Maritime in Charleston makes great sense.

[MCScots2013]

I'm not so sure. Charleston's more of a destination these days than NY and if a student wants a military college experience they are probably sold on The Citadel if they can get in.

Philadelphia, Baltimore or Hampton Roads VA are probably better areas for recruiting for a NY college. VA is really only a maybe, too. We already have Apprentice in Newport News.


Of course I have no idea what a billboard costs, so if the recruiting budget has a surplus roll the dice I guess.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I suspect Charleston is a great place to recruit students who might be interested in being on the water (and perhaps attend schools that will help them qualify academically).

I heard some college President talk one time about their marketing strategy - one of which was researching where their typical students vacation and then putting regular billboards up between campus and that destination.  They claimed it upped applications by 20%.

[Ron Boerger]

In addition, schools are recruiting in the South because the college-aged cohort is still growing there. 

[Ron Boerger]

The future of the SAA is very much in doubt after Maryville today announced it would abandon the conference it joined just this season to return to the CCS.  That leaves the conference with six schools, only five of which play football should the Scots find somewhere else to affilate (the CCS does not sponsor football).  Given the conference's continued radio silence and limited (if any) options for growth, it appears that the SCAC will win the war as a thriving conference after initially being put in this position when the charter members (except Berry) of the SAA split off to form a new conference.

https://mcscots.com/news/2026/10/20/general-maryville-college-to-depart-saa-rejoin-ccs-in-2027.aspx