The large "For Sale" sign dwarfs the Chester College sign on the property of the closed art school in Chester-a visible reminder of the effect of the recession and weak economy. The 45-year-old college fell victim to declining enrollments that led to a budget deficit in the hundreds of thousands, a fate that also befell similar small rural institutions with enrollments averaging fewer than 500 students.
Dana College, a century-old liberal arts institution in Nebraska, closed after attempts to court a for-profit buyer failed. Also closed are Wesley College in Mississippi and Lambuth University in Tennessee. Locally, Daniel Webster College in Nashua sold its campus in 2009 to the for-profit ITT Technical Service to pay off its $20 million debt. When Chester closed its doors in June, it was officially acquired by New England College. While the recession alone isn't entirely to blame for these closures (and acquisitions), it certainly was the final nail in the coffin. Chester College only had 144 students, and without a major endowment, the tuition generated by those students was not enough to cover the $500,000 to $900,000 it needed to keep the doors open for the 2012-2013 academic year.
The closures are part of the natural churn experienced in the private education market. Over the past 30 years, an average of three to four private colleges have closed per year, while an average of two to three have opened per year. That trend has held fairly constant since the economic downturn. With 1,600 private institutions in the U.S., the number of colleges that close are [minimal], says Tony Pals, director of communications for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
Tom Horgan, president of the NH College and University Council, says in the last two decades, at least 10 small private colleges have shut down in NH, including Notre Dame in Manchester and Castle College in Windham. But many rural colleges are also thriving, with growing enrollment numbers, increased donations and new programs of study.
Small but Determined
From exit 18 off Route 89, drivers see two signs: to the right for Dartmouth College, and to the left for Lebanon College. While both are private and nonprofit, the former serves Ivy League students likely to proceed to graduate education and six-figure salaries, the latter accommodates adult community learners who receive their associate degrees and move directly to jobs. Lebanon College's two buildings are converted retail stores in a pedestrian mall. It renovated the Woolworth 5&10 in 2000 and the Shoetorium building nine years later. However, the College is defaulting on its $2.3 million bond, and is renegotiating with bank creditors to meet its obligations. Instructional Dean Daniel Whitaker says the bank is motivated to revise the payment schedules. In this economy, who wants to invoke a short sale of two empty buildings?
Tailored to meet the personnel needs of area employers like Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital and the Southern Vermont Correctional Institute in Springfield, Vt., Lebanon College's most popular programs are radiology and criminal justice. Tuition ranges from $6,000 to $8,000 annually. Whitaker says enrollment has dipped from a decade ago. However the numbers are starting to rise and he's expecting a strong fall for 2012. During the last academic year, the school accepted 100 matriculating students and had between 500 and 600 pupils taking at least one course. We've been here since 1956, says Whitaker. And we anticipate being here in 2056.
With only 60 students and an enrollment that has never exceeded 80, the College of Saint Mary Magdalen is the smallest of the small colleges in NH. In 1990, an anonymous donor bequeathed this Catholic liberal arts school with a $6 million campus that's perched over the picturesque town of Warner.
We've always been a small, scrappy school, says president and professor George Harne. The college operates on a shoestring budget, raising money each year for the following academic calendar. Harne calls the fundraising old-fashioned development, which involves cultivating relationships with private individuals and foundations. This year, college officials will be traveling to meet with donors not only in NH, but Greater Boston, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Florida, and California. Harne anticipates an increase of about 90 percent for the upcoming freshman class. Though we expect to be at 60 or higher this year, our total enrollment goal is 200 within 10 years.
Battling Demographics & Size
Without a strong alumni base and the time it takes to cultivate one, smaller schools often don't have the infrastructure to build large endowments. They must instead rely largely on tuition for revenue. And when enrollment shrinks, trouble lies ahead.
Horgan notes that declining demographic trends will be a major challenge to the financial stability of higher education institutions, particularly in New England, whose population is aging faster than the national average. Considering that many of NH's rural colleges draw at least 40 percent of their students from in-state, the diminishing numbers of 18 to 24 year-olds threaten enrollments. The economies of scale are working against smaller colleges, says Kent John Chabotar, a senior faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Higher Education and president of Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Medallion colleges-the top national liberal arts colleges with robust endowments, such as Bowdoin, Bates and Amherst College-can easily flood their campuses with highly qualified students and entice them with financial aid, explains Chabotar, who formerly served as vice president for finance and administration and treasurer of Bowdoin College in Maine. In contrast, non-medallion schools can barely cover their overhead if they have less than 1,000 students as that usually means they also have small endowments and lower tuitions.
High Demand for Financial Aid
Horgan says while NH's small, private colleges are serving students looking for a personalized, quality education experience, the barrier is the high cost. With some high school graduates postponing college and more than half of Americans questioning the value of a college education, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, that's a huge barrier.
To attract more applicants, private colleges with fewer than 4,000 students are slashing tuitions for first-time freshmen by as much as 44 percent, according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers. When Franklin Pierce University offered a $20,000 discount off the $28,250 tuition, it sealed the deal for the family of Belin Hegfield, a recent high school graduate from Amherst. Franklin Pierce, like other small colleges, heavily discounts tuition to attract a wider array of high-achieving students. According to the university website, 94 percent of students at the Rindge campus receive financial aid, with an average scholarship of $15,300 for the 2011-2012 academic year.
New England College, with just under a thousand undergraduates, operates with a $33 million budget and employs 400 administrative and teaching staff, with few adjunct faculty. Its tuition and fees are more than $30,000 a year, yet the school provides around $13 million in institutional aid. The tuition at Colby-Sawyer College in New London trumps other small undergraduate colleges in the state, with rates at $35,810, representing a nearly 20 percent increase from 2008. Galligan says that more than 90 percent of students receive some form of financial aid.
While demand for tuition assistance is high, such funds in NH remain low. In 2010, NH students carried the highest average college debt in the country ($31,048), according to the New England Board of Higher Education. The state ranked 50th for state appropriations for higher education operating expenses per $1,000 personal income, according to the now defunct NH Postsecondary Education Commission.
Since the early 1960s, NH applied funds from its annual operating budget to assist needy students. About 3,500 students annually received an average state grant of $1,000. This year, the Legislature cut all General Fund scholarships. It is the first state in the country not to sponsor any scholarships. Horgan of the NH College and University Council says this provokes students to shun college, take fewer classes, or leave NH for an institution in another state. If New Hampshire is going to have the highly skilled workforce that our businesses say they need then we can't be the only state not offering our citizens financial aid to access higher education, he says.
Liberal Arts vs. Practicality
With high unemployment numbers, small liberal arts institutions also have to balance their liberal arts mission with the growing demand for vocational training. This means many have ramped up their career services and internship programs. They've also invested in marketing materials and programs to persuade prospective students that intimate schools in rural settings can prepare students for real jobs, in addition to learning for its own sake. That does not mean their liberal arts mission takes a backseat. New England College remains committed to its tradition in humanities-its well-known MFA program in poetry continues to attract Pulitzer Prize-winning faculty.
Small colleges generally place much emphasis on the value of a liberal arts education, which seems to be less in vogue these days with the focus on skills training and job placement right out of college. Yet statistics show that students who have a solid preparation in critical thinking, a broad understanding of cultural and historical context, and the ability to write and communicate effectively have a much greater chance of advancing to the highest levels of their professions, have a much higher probability of assuming leadership roles later in life, says Michele Perkins, New England College's president. I am concerned that we have been looking too much at that first job out of college; not that it's not important, but more important is the trajectory of one's professional career, where you will be 20 years after graduation.
Closing the Deal
The closing of Chester College was a straightforward issue of matriculation: The college simply did not have the enrollment it needed to bring in sufficient revenue. Meanwhile in Manchester, the NH Institute of Art has been adding new buildings, students and technologies to enhance learning.
Ironically, Chester College had one of the best financial responsibility score in 2009 from the U.S. Department of Education with a 2.1 on a 3.0 scale. Chabotar, who is also part of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities task force studying the methodology of the education department's scoring, says among the many criticisms of the test is its overreliance on the role of sinking endowments at a time when the entire spectrum of higher education, including the likes of Harvard and Yale, were also victims of the market downturn.
Art schools do have significantly higher overhead, says Rick Strawbridge, executive vice president of the NH Institute of Art in Manchester, explaining that expensive dark rooms and ceramic and print making equipment elevate the costs of what college classrooms typically need to support them. Chabotar says that with student aid factored into the equation, private colleges with a focus on art and music comprise eight out the 10 highest net price schools in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Education. But due to the large gifts the NH Institute of Art received from benefactors, our tuition is [about] $10,000 less than similar art schools, says Strawbridge. That makes us competitive.
Strawbridge also points out that creative types are often drawn to metropolitan locations, and find Manchester more affordable and manageable than Boston or New York. The NH Institute of Art has expanded from one building to 12 during the past decade and recently received another large donation from an anonymous individual. With the attraction of a new graphic design program, and the absorption of over 90 former Chester College students, the NH Institute of Art has bumped up its student population to almost 550.
It all goes to show that survival for small rural colleges is indeed an art-regardless of the school's focus. And Horgan says smaller institutions with good leadership can thrive. I'm aggressively optimistic that they can, he says.
Making the Grade
Antioch University of New England, Keene:
Increasing Options and Time Requirements
The Landscape: Antioch University in Keene stands apart from other small rural colleges in NH because it is a non-residential school that only offers graduate programs and appeals to adult learners with an average age of 32. Antioch invented the field of environmental studies in 1971, and the program continues as its marquee achievement.
With 800 students, President David Caruso says enrollment has slipped about 10 percent, which corresponds to the national average for adult enrollment. In a troubled economy, he says, it's harder for adults who have other responsibilities, such as family, kids and a mortgage, to make the decision to go to graduate school and borrow the funds to do so.
The Solution: The graduate university has revamped some of its programs. For example, it reduced its 42-credit MBA program to 36 credits. It has also added new concentrations in its environmental programs, such as conservation biology, sustainable development and climate change.
Antioch has four other campuses throughout the country, including Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Seattle, along with its central operations in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Because the campuses share resources, the Keene institution minimizes its operating budget.
The Result: Antioch is attracting a wider audience and has more to offer to its students.
Making the Grade
Colby-Sawyer College in New London:
Reaching Out to the World
The Landscape: Colby-Sawyer, like many small colleges, is the economic engine and cultural cornerstone of its community. That engine stalled during the recession. The college's president, Tom Galligan, reports that between 2008 and 2009, the endowment shrunk from $30 million to $17 million. It took four years to regain the losses.
The Solution: We have sought to deal with financial challenges through reengineering and attrition, says Galligan. The school added nine new majors in the past five years.
It also hired new staff to recruit international students. Usually from affluent families, overseas students pay the full-freight tuition. They often seek the well-known brands in major northeastern cities. Once they realize these schools cost between $50,000 and $60,000 a year, they begin to understand that they can get an equal-and possibly more personal-education at a quintessential New England campus for almost half the price.
The Result: Minorities now represent 28 percent of the student population, and the handful of foreign students has burgeoned to more than a hundred. Next year, the college expects another 50 international students.
This is part of a general trend. New England colleges and universities enrolled nearly 59,000 foreign students in 2011-more than three times as many as they did in 1980, according to data from the New York City-based Institute of International Education.
During the last six years, Colby-Sawyer College has expanded, from 950 students in 2007 to 1,276 in 2011. It is our goal to incrementally grow to 1,500 students, says Greg Matthews, the vice president for enrollment management. And we are moving progressively toward that.
Making the Grade
New England College in Henniker:
Flexibility and Fundraising
The Landscape: As with most small colleges, approximately 90 percent of New England College's revenue comes from tuition and room and board, with investments, as well as federal and state grants, accounting for the remaining one percent. Instead of building its endowment, it raises money through its annual fund, which last year grew by 60 percent. The annual fund supports library resources, faculty development, athletics, student life and student financial assistance. This year's goal is to reach $700,000. The downtown Henniker campus recently raised funds to build a $1.5 million artificial turf field. It collected another $4 million for two new buildings for academic and athletic programs.
The Solution: In response to workforce demands, the school began seven new MBA programs this past spring. Last year, it began offering a master's degree in digital and social media and a doctoral program in education. Over the past few months, the college has rolled out six new undergraduate programs delivered exclusively online. New England College has 40 students in the Doctoral program and plans for 60 in the third year of the program. The new MBA and Ed.D. programs are among its most recent additions in the School of Graduate and Professional Studies, with a combined enrollment of more than 100 students this year. New England College is also offering flexible, year-round study options to help students save money and graduate sooner. Summer classes are currently offered at a reduced rate. Our plan is to price our new summer terms (beginning in summer 2014) to be very attractive to our current students as well as to other college students who can opt to enroll on a full-time basis in the summer, says President Michele Perkins.
The Result: Enrollments have fluctuated over the past decade but with recent investments, the college aims to regain its all-time high of 1,000 undergraduates.
Making the Grade
Franklin Pierce University in Rindge:
Recruiting and Revamping
The Landscape: Franklin Pierce University has struggled historically with retention and needs to do a better job, admits President James Birge. The graduation rate at Franklin Pierce is 60 percent-in line with the U.S. average in 2009 of 55.5 percent and the NH average of 60.6 percent according to the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.
The Solution: To compete with larger schools, Franklin Pierce revamped its dining menus and redesigned its residence halls with popular amenities such as smart laundry machines that text you when clothes are done. But trendy accommodations play a small role, if any, in guaranteeing student achievement. Retention begins at recruitment, says Birge. That means carefully selecting the students most likely to succeed, restructuring curriculum to meet workforce demands and increasing admission events outside the campus.
After a year of strategic planning, Franklin Pierce also developed two new educational programs: a health science degree and a three-year business degree with the option of completing an MBA in the fourth year.
The Result: While enrollment dropped from 1,750 in 2006 to 1,287 in 2011, a decrease of almost 25 percent, the school is experiencing a resurgence. For the fall of 2012, enrollments are up 63 percent. Birge attributes this uptick to the college's more aggressive recruiting and new academic programs. This is a pivotal turn, explains Birge, as the university will always rely on tuition revenue rather than its endowment to maintain its operating budget.