Oberlin College building with text overlay: Oberlin's Financial Crisis is Sobering Lesson for Higher Education

Don’t blame liberal campus culture for Oberlin’s enrollment headache

BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Last month, Rick Seltzer reported in Inside Higher Education about a brewing controversy at Oberlin College, which is facing a significant financial shortfall. The College, including its prestigious Conservatory, faces a multi-million dollar deficit caused largely by lower-than-expected enrollment. A group of trustees charged with looking into Oberlin’s shortfall found that…

College for Whom?

When my father got out of the army at the end of WWII, one of the colleges he applied to was Oberlin. A good school, it wasn’t far from home; he knew very little more about it. As it happened, according to his story, one hundred other GIs had also applied–and the college suddenly had…