According to Spectrum Local News, lots of private colleges around New York are closing and bigger public institutions like the State University of New York’s (SUNY) and University at Albany’s enrollment is rising to pick up the slack. Students who went to private colleges for specific degrees are having to leave their communities and transfer to schools without their desired specialization. Some colleges were consumed by bigger universities so their programs remained the same, but the small communities these students chose grew exponentially overnight.
The Depart of Education asserts that the schools that are closing didn’t adjust their programming and staffing to fit enrollment, leading to financial crisis and eventually closure. In comparison, SUNY adjusts both their programming and staffing to fit enrollment yearly, allowing them to absorb students and programs from closing schools.
While this is prevalent in New York with 18 private universities closing since 2016 and 10 of those closing in the last two years, enrollment levels are dropping throughout the country. With the way young students in K-12 are treating their education these days, it doesn’t look like these numbers are going to be changing for the better anytime soon.
