BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL If you live in New England, you’ve likely heard a great deal about the imminent demise of small private colleges. Just this week, Southern Vermont College announced it would close. Boston Magazine led with a cover story headline last month: “The End? Boston’s Small Colleges are Expensive, In Debt, and on…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL When its trustees shut down Mount Ida College, they unleashed a debacle that resulted in a torrent of criticism and considerable finger pointing. Rejecting a merger or acquisition (depending on the characterization) with Lasell College, the trustees opted to sell the campus to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, whose leadership…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL There has always been a historic tension between America’s colleges and universities and the government, whether at the state or federal level. It’s unavoidable. Once the government began to fund students and institutions in the late 20th century, its leaders believed that they had a right and responsibility to oversee the…
In June, the Department of Education released its new rules about for-profit colleges. The regulations are known as the “gainful employment” rules, because they seek to ensure that graduates are adequately prepared for the workforce (and prepared to pay off their student loans) once they leave school. The final rules were weaker than those originally…