This Week In College Viability (TWICV) for August 3, 2026

What is This Week In College Viability (TWICV)?

Welcome to the podcast. We call it TWICV. It is our effort to provide a fast-paced, entertaining, and alternative voice to the propaganda and hype flowing out of colleges in America today.

This week in College Viability is a proud affilate of The EdUP Experience podcast network.

Gary Stocker (00:00:01)
It is Monday, August 3rd, 2026. Hi, everybody. Gary Stalker back in front of the Blue Yeti microphone ⁓ with yet another podcast episode of This Week in College Viability News and Commentary. And of course, this is the podcast. This is the podcast that talks about the financial health and viability of public and private colleges with data and with details and perspectives. I believe is offered nowhere else. ⁓ And this week on this week.

The Illinois Institute of Technology cuts 160 faculty and staff just before the start of the fall semester. A hidden ⁓ professional healthcare organization, a category, I guess I'll call it, is in trouble. I'll have some details on that. And then we have a news report about a college in Vermont that's in trouble. And then we have part of a president's response, and this is St. Michael's College in Vermont, ⁓ and market adjustments.

Looser regulations make three-year bachelor's degrees finely available. We've got a specific case in New Hampshire. And I'll talk about why there's a trend involved here. And then of course, the College Major's Completion App, one of the main tools we have out there. Don't send your child to a college with a low number of completions. If they're thinking, for example, journalism, they want a bachelor's degree in journalism and that college has only graduated three or four or five students have completed that major.

In the last three or four or five years, be careful. That major may very well be at risk at being cut ⁓ in that college. And then ⁓ new news. August 31st, 2026. My college decision lens, my college decision lens for students and families. ⁓ We're gonna try and change the power equation. There's too much information coming from colleges and not enough information going to students and their families, and we hope to fix that.

With my college decision lens and all sorts of marketing materials will be released and posted in the month of October prior to that August 31st release date. Layoffs and cutbacks and this week a closure. ⁓ The University of Valley Forge in Chester County, Pennsylvania is to close after the summer term. And this is from six ABC Digital staff ⁓ on July 30th. The university says it will suspend academic operations at the end of the summer term.

Gary Stocker (00:02:30)
Board of Trustees made the difficult decision after many efforts to address the school's financial challenges. Day late, dollar short. We see it so many times. And this has been building over the last couple of months. Nobody's surprised at this college, even though it's small, and that's what will that's what the defenders of higher education will say. Well, hey, it had next to no students. But it had students, had faculty, had staff, had a community, had a campus, had buildings. Doesn't matter what the size is.

Yes, most college closures are smaller. But the trend is irrefutable, as I have shared so many, many times. Too many colleges, way too many colleges, and not enough students willing to pay even heavily discounted tuition to attend those colleges. The Illinois Institute of Technology cuts 160 faculty and staff just before the fall semester starts. University officials at the Illinois Institute of Technology says finances have taken a hit.

From declines in research funding and foreign student enrollment. We've heard that before. Here's the rest of the story, as the late great Paul Harvey would have said. Faculty say leaders' slow response and lack of transparency have deepened the crisis. Lisa Curry and Philip had the story at WBEX Radio in Chicago on July 31st. Here's part of the story from Ms. Phillip. The university's faculty senate issued a vote of no confidence.

In the president and provost. This was the day before faculty and staff began receiving layoff notices. Talk about a day late. In a letter to the university's attorney shared with WBEZ, faculty Senate members acknowledge the campus is facing extreme financial difficulties, but criticized how senior officials have handled them. We've seen this story before. The faculty, the story goes on. The faculty do not trust the current senior administration.

To make the necessary decisions to navigate this transition in a way that meets our responsibilities to students and creditors. This is what faculty members wrote in their vote ⁓ of no confidence. So there we have it. Fight, fight, fight at the Illinois Institute of Technology. We'll keep an eye on that story in the coming weeks. And I've got some college drivel from you. This one's also from the Illinois Institute of Technology. ⁓ And here's what they said. As always.

Gary Stocker (00:04:56)
As always, we will continue to place students at the center of all that we do ⁓ and to ensure educational excellence at the Illinois Institute of Technology. This from a college, this from a college that just laid off 160, 160 employees, page two.

Ryan Hofer ⁓ has a has a ⁓ stack house, is that what's called post ⁓ on acupuncture and chiropractic college accreditation and financial issues. He does a good job. He posts regularly, provides great details. ⁓ And the story here is there's a hidden professional healthcare college category in trouble. And again, Ryan Hofer at the Substack debt by natural causes on August 2nd talks about this. ⁓ Now he cites five colleges.

That are on what are called the Department of Education's heightened cash monitoring, HCM Heightened Cash Monitoring for Poor Financial Composite Responsibility Scores. I've talked about the responsibility scores before. They're not the best indicator, but giving nothing else for these colleges, it's worth having some comparison. And these are the five colleges that have the HCM, the Heightened Cash Monitoring, the Academy for a Five-Element Acupuncture.

Dragon Rises College of Oriental Medicine, South Baylor University, Texas Health and Science University, and the University of East West Medicine. In particular, Dragon Rises, the College of Oriental Medicine, in their 2023, I don't know why so late, ⁓ so long ago, in their 2023 audited financial statements, they had a going concern listed by their auditing firm. Now, for those of you not following along every week, a going concern is simply an accounting term that says, hey,

We're not sure the college, this college, has the resources to five to survive the next twelve months. So these are ⁓ mostly acupuncture and chiropractic colleges. There are some other ⁓ medicine type colleges, I can't remember the name of them. And and I don't study them to be enough, to be conversant enough on their issues. Suffice it to say, suffice it to say, if you have a st if you have a student.

Gary Stocker (00:07:11)
If you are a student you know is considering a college like these, make sure. Make sure to get independent evaluation on the financial health and liability of these colleges. And now, ⁓ a story and a response. July 31st, Mass Live. Juliette Schulman Hall always has good stuff. A Vermont college is in financial danger amid an enrollment drop. Ms. Shulman Hall writes: A Vermont college's financial troubles are coming under public.

Scrutiny after its accreditor issued a notice warning that it was in danger, the college, not the accreditor, was in danger of not meeting its institutional resources due to a declining enrollment. St. Michael's College, a private Catholic college, has attempted to reduce expenses but been unsuccessful in doing that. This according to a June notification from the New England Commission on Higher Education, also known as NETCI. The college's enrollment dropped from one thousand five hundred plus.

in two thousand nineteen to a little over a thousand, a drop of more than five hundred in the fall of twenty twenty five. And just as a point of comparison, ⁓ similar letters had been sent previously to two other Massachusetts colleges. You may remember the names, Anna Maria College and Hampshire College, both of which announced closure in April.

The two institutions, Anna Maria College and Hampshire, ⁓ struggled with enrollment. A key issue that has led to get this 28 Massachusetts only, Massachusetts colleges and universities to close or merge. 28 since 2014. Now, the president ⁓ at St. Michael's, as they most typically do, presidents most typically do, had a response. And it was a long response, and it wasn't a bad response.

It's just a day late and a dollar short. So Dr. Plum is a St. Michael's college president at Vermont Biz. They posted a story from him. ⁓ And Dr. Plum writes, St. Michael's has never been defined solely by enrollment numbers or financial statements. For more than 120 years, this college has prepared graduates marked by intellectual curiosity, ethical leadership, compassion, and service to others. That mission

Gary Stocker (00:09:31)
is why this institution exists. It is also why every difficult decision we have made has been worth making. All right. So ⁓ I I I ⁓ I really don't understand that statement for at all, period. Because it's the same sentiment, the same almost the same verbiage, the same tone.

That is generally expressed by almost every college out there, whether they're in financial distress or not. Intellectual ⁓ curiosity, ethical leadership, compassion, and service to others. It's a commodity. St. Michael's College is a commodity college. They're all commodity colleges, but St. Michael's College is a commodity college ⁓ in financial distress. That's not differentiation, guys.

Just sad, ⁓ sad commentary. Page three. Keystone College expands online education with six new undergraduate degree options. This is from the Abington Journal. I don't see a date on that. ⁓ I note this because Keystone ⁓ is one of hundreds of private four-year colleges in financial distress. I know this because I look at the data. In particular, I looked at ⁓ perspective data sciences, college financial compass.

And of the 15 key measures that they track on the financial compass, Keystone was flagged in 11 of the 15, including an endowment, a really small endowment, ⁓ at $6.4 million in 2025, the end of the year in 2025. That's that's not even college couch money. That's just too small. And and here's why I bring this up. ⁓ They're offering six more undergraduate online programs, and I think I saw something.

That we're going to add that list. This is yet another example of management by public relations, public relations at its finest. It is highly unlikely to the point of improbability that small, underfunded, undermarketed colleges like Keystone can generate anything close, can generate anything close to materially significant.

Gary Stocker (00:11:54)
Net new revenue from its six new online courses. With a twenty twenty five FTE enrollment under a thousand, there's there's little hope that Keystone can profitably compete with the big boys, with the national online brands like Southern New Hampshire University, Western Governors University, Arizona State, and a few others. Here is an unfunded advertisement. Compliments of college viability.

If Keystone and other colleges want to add online courses, why are you recreating the wheel? There's a company out there called Rise Education. It's spelled R-I-Z-E. Rise Education. They've already created substantial online content. And colleges like Keystone can ⁓ engage using their bachelor and master degree programs in revenue sharing. No startup costs. They've already done it.

Rise education, R I ⁓ Z E.

Gary Stocker (00:12:58)
I've talked about my Google Alerts many times before, ⁓ and ⁓ last week's Google Alerts exploded with stories about Howard University. I had this on the str on the show last week. ⁓ And ⁓ it's how a bunch of politicians and colleges are getting on the

Howard University I guess bandwagon, is what I want to call it.

Gary Stocker (00:13:27)
So here's what's happening. Governors in I think Maryl Maryland and New York

Gary Stocker (00:13:36)
Are offering to help students from Howard who were unenrolled because they either didn't pay their bills ⁓ or they paid their bills and Howard University screwed up and didn't know it. And I talked about this last week. ⁓ And I understand that Howard University is not free from guilt. It does appear ⁓ that a significant number of students had tried to meet payment requirements and deadlines, ⁓ and the university, for whatever reason, didn't have the systems and processes in place to capture that.

I don't hardly see anyone stepping up to point out that paying one's bills on time is

Like you and I do, it's a proper request from university or anyone else. Now granted Howard may have messed up some, but to file the response ⁓ day after day, almost hour after hour, folks getting on the the anti-Howard University bandwagon say, Hey, you're gonna unenroll students, we'll take care of for ya. Just again, management in the case of colleges, management by more public relations. Page four. College return on investment.

versus federal tracking. There's a fight over something called the College Transparency Act, and this is from Devin Pavl Pavlo at SANSAN.com on July twenty-ninth. The proposed system would see colleges and universities securely submit individual student records, including majors, degree status, tuition payments, and financial aid. The National Center for Education Statistics would then link those student records with data from other federal agencies.

including the IRS, Social Security Administration, and the Department of Defense to calculate long term earnings ⁓ and employment outcomes. All right. In theory and maybe even in practice, ⁓ what's needed so we can get more and better data about the outcomes associated with colleges besides I got a diploma.

Gary Stocker (00:15:34)
Before any data is published online, the story goes on, before any data is published online via consumer tools like college scorecard, personal identifiers like student names and social security numbers would be stripped. The result would be specific, actionable metrics, like showing that nursing graduates from a specific college or university earn a median salary of sixty-five thousand five years after graduations or after graduation, for example. Now, if ⁓ this bill

is signed into law and I don't didn't see any reference to that likelihood, it's still gonna take a few years for the data to become meaningful to students, meaningful to colleges and meaningful to other stakeholders.

But I'm already thinking about how we would use this at college viability. We if and when that data becomes available, we're gonna take it, we're gonna use it as it is presented, with all the proper securities and embed it in all of our products. Count on it.

Gary Stocker (00:16:39)
And then looser regulation makes three years, bachelor's degrees finally available in the stories about New Hampshire. And this came from the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy. Now I'm a big West Wing fan, and of course, Josiah Bartlett, Jed Bartlett, was the fictional president in West Wing. I did not know there was an actual Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court and founder of the New Hampshire Medical Society and a distinguished physician named Josiah Bartlett back in the late 1700s. All right, I missed that one.

So here's, and again, the link to the story will be in the show notes. So it it ⁓ it's clear to me that the three-year bachelor program is starting to become, ⁓ I don't know, as common as mosquitoes in the South. And this editorial piece from the Josiah Bartlett Foundation ⁓ is ⁓ is really a combination of indictment and support for the accreditation process that I so frequently rant rave about.

And so what we have, which step back and look at the big picture. So what we have here is a market response from an accreditation agency, the national, ⁓ the New England ⁓ Commission on Higher Education, Netchi. Good for them. All right. Attaboy. Got a market response, they say, go for it, New Hampshire. Here's my follow-up question. Will Netchi ⁓ in New England and other accreditation agencies

Also, think about becoming consumer protection advocates. Letting students and their families know hey, be careful of this college.

When will they aggressively announce a college is in financial trouble? When will they quit hiding whatever financial stress announcements there are out there ten clicks deep on a web page, on a website? When will they quit giving colleges in financial free fall ⁓ months and months and months and months to say no we're not?

Gary Stocker (00:18:46)
Just sad. And when? ⁓ When will these accreditation agencies move beyond ⁓ being just being more than I dotters and T-crossers, protecting the revenue sources? Because remember the colleges they evaluate, the colleges they accredited are their source of revenue. When will these folks ⁓ step forward and be consumer advocates and say, for example, Gary Stocker College is not worth consideration at this point?

It has too many quality issues, too many financial issues, too many outcome issues. And then finally, the premier publication, maybe in the country, maybe in the world, The Wall Street Journal. And the headline reads: this was on August 2nd, so this was yesterday, the struggling colleges rating their endowments to pay the bills.

And I've used that phrase a lot. I hope they're not stealing my stuff. It's the last resort for institutions on the brink, tapping restricted endowment funds, and those who are dedicated for specific purpose, tapping restricted endowment funds from donors to keep the lights on. Again, I keep use keep the lights on all the time. The money they donated, these philanthropy folks, the money they donated is not being used for what they gave it for. Doug Belkin had the story, as I just said. Here's the main point from the Wall Street Journal articles. I'll have the link in the

In the show notes. ⁓ College leaders are cutting programs, laying off faculty, and digging into endowments to pay operating expenses. Now, unrestricted endowments, centric cash, not a big deal. Restricted endowments given for a specific purpose, most commonly a scholarship, a specific scholarship. That's something else. Boards of trustees are under intense pressure, and some are turning on one another and presidents, and the presidents they employ. And in extreme cases,

Colleges are covering day-to-day bills with funds that donors gifted for other purposes, like I just talked about. And they're doing this ⁓ in at least some number of cases. They're doing this without the donor's knowledge or consent. And the tactic is creating, again, the Wall Street Journal article, the tactic is creating a new loser in the consolidation of higher education. Thousands of philanthropists.

Gary Stocker (00:21:04)
Who have donated what they say is billions of dollars to colleges and universities across generations, and their wishes are not being honored. And let's let's take this article to this week's wrap-up. ⁓

Of course, the college school year is just about upon us. There has been a summer full of stories about layoffs and cutbacks in colleges and numbers that are scary. ⁓ And the article of the day, maybe from the most prestigious publication in the country, maybe the world, indicates that an increasing number of colleges, mostly private, are playing loose, are playing loose with the rules on philanthropic gifts.

So I will share, like I did at the top of the show. August 31st is the date I release my college decision lens. It's a resource for students and families on day one. And it will quickly and easily let users see financial health, graduation rates, investments, and more to help compare the financial health of public and private colleges. So if you would share this podcast in particular with your friends and family and neighbors.

Who may be starting the college selection and decision making process in the next few weeks, next few months. You can also send them to my college viability, one long word, mycollege viability.com for the free college viability inspection report on hundreds and hundreds of colleges. And I've I've I've created the tools that you can use, that users can use to help assess the risk of colleges that are being considered.

At college viability, we're working hard to change the power dynamic in higher education. We want the college decision power, ⁓ knowledge, information to be in the hands of students and families, and not just at colleges and their never ending self-serving marketing efforts. And and I learned this from an economist. All markets perform better.

Gary Stocker (00:23:12)
All markets, including higher education, perform better when there is information for all parties. Today it is a one-sided market. Colleges only share what they want. And here at College Viability, we are working to change that and come August 31st, we're gonna have something we think will be a big step forward. So until next Monday, thanks as always for listening. Make sure not to be a podcast hog and share the link with others. I'm Gary Stalker at College Viability. We'll be back next Monday.