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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 D Stocker (00:01.95)
It is December 15th, 2025, time for the final This Week in College Viability News and Commentary podcast for the calendar year 2025. Hi, everybody. Gary Stocker back in front of that blue yeti microphone that I use each and every Monday for all the podcasts that I do and all the shows that I do as well. This is the final podcast. And of course, it's the show. It's the podcast that talks about the financial health and viability of public and private colleges with data and with
details and with perspectives offered nowhere else. This week we have lots of layoff and cut back stories. And believe it or not, we have a college without a library. This is a Bloomberg News story. was quoted in, I believe it was last week. And that is the position that Albright College has found itself in since 2019, five plus years without a college library.
College bankruptcies are coming. Interesting take from both a reporter and a writer on that angle. And the higher education market is adjusting. The case in point is Colorado Governor Jared Polis wants a merger of the higher education and labor departments. And I've got some stories to show that's a trend as well. Two layoffs, cutbacks this week. Oklahoma regions vote to cut 41 low producing academic programs.
The state coordinating board also moved to suspend 21 other programs across Oklahoma's public institutions. Laura Sputnikak at Higher Education Dive had this story last week on December 8th. 21 programs, 21 more being looked at. They were looking at 360, 360 low producing offerings. And again, this ties into what I've talked about before. We've seen it in Ohio, Indiana, Texas, and other places.
public agencies, public governments, public organizations are taking a look at low enrollment majors and they are mandating that numbers somewhere in the assembly of five per year, varies per state a little bit and the timeframe varies per state as well. But what's happening is that colleges, as I've shared before, if a major doesn't have volume, doesn't have students interested, they're asking, demanding, mandating that colleges, public colleges cut those programs.
Gary D Stocker (02:28.022)
And in the state of Oklahoma, they continue to look at those. And as Jeff Salingo said earlier this year, he predicted that 2025 would be the year that colleges will start. Colleges will start realizing they can't be everything to everybody. Enrollment declining at Western Illinois University, that's in Macomb, Illinois, the western part of Illinois. Chandler Brindley had this story at KWQC Channel 6 on December 11th.
There are currently 5,300 plus students at Western Illinois, which is almost 1,000 students less than the 6,300 in change the university had just last fall. That's according to university statistics, Western Illinois statistics. The story notes federal projections. All right, this is from the only agency, the only agency out there. This reporter pulled the only source with a vested interest that projects increasing enrollment.
trying to, I assume trying to show that there was some light at the end of the higher education tunnel for Western Illinois and other public and private colleges in trouble.
And this entity, this is the National Center for Education Statistics, they say between fall 2021 and fall 2031, college enrollment is going to increase 9 % up to 16.8 million students. Write this down. going to happen. The folks at Western Illinois, I don't have a source on this. The folks at Western Illinois say we expect this spring just a slight decrease.
again from our international numbers. But then as we look forward toward the fall of 2026, we're hopeful to have some great, we're hopeful, functional word, we're hopeful to have some great things to share, particularly when it looks like our incoming freshman class is looking early on. That's pretty poorly worded. But anyway, banking on hope, nice strategy. you know, Western Illinois,
Gary D Stocker (04:38.637)
is a frequent flyer.
Gary D Stocker (04:45.57)
Western Illinois University is a frequent flyer on the podcast. And while I will never predict a college closure, just too tough to do, I'll tell you when a college is trouble, I'll tell you when they're being silly, I'll tell you when they're making things up. Western Illinois, Western Illinois could end up being the poster child for a public college that just has too much going against it. And politics aside, if that's possible, don't, I don't.
not in good situation. Martin University. This is in Indiana.
Gary D Stocker (05:24.692)
The university announced on December 9th that it would pause operations with no plans to reopen. Okay. And this story is from Mirror India. I'll try that one more time. Mirror Indy. Claire Radford had the story. Claire Radford had the story on December 10th. And I think I had this pause slash closure on the show last week.
And when this happens, are always follow up stories like this. Yet this college's leadership team, almost certainly, knew the end was coming many, many, many, many months ago. And I understand they just can't say that because to do that would be essentially a self-fulfilling prophecy when the word got out. So students and parents and others.
Look at the financial health. That's why I'm here. Look at the financial health of colleges you are considering. The tools I provide at College Viability and now the new MyCollege Viability clearly show which colleges, mostly private, are financially risky and which are less so, which have some financial stamina. And there was one student that I felt for. One student spoke to another college about transferring. This is from Martin University.
and she learned she'd have to stay in school for an extra year. Okay, we've heard that before. So this student at Martin University announced a pause last week with no intent to open, no notification opening. So she's thinking she might just bank on this college, Martin University reopening again soon. Sad that students are put in that position. And no doubt.
that a college pausing or closing is a trauma. I've talked about this before, is a trauma for all involved. Yet even at this late stage pausing enrollment, pausing operations, Martin University, as do others, Martin University continues to lead students to believe that the college will stay open and survive.
Gary D Stocker (07:43.51)
Let's go to Guilford College.
Guilford College comes off a creditor probation after budget cuts. Ben Unglesby had the story at higher education dive on December 10th. And once again, the creditor in this case, it's the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. believe SacSoc is how it's pronounced. It releases a college on probation. It releases a college on promises and the college's promises to do better.
No actual documentation, they're doing better.
no consistently long-term documentation that they can do better. So, Guilford, this is story from Ben's quote from Ben's story. Guilford has since turbocharged its fundraising, doubling last year's number of alumni donors in just four months. The president of the college, Dr. Bordewich, I believe. The college has received seven million in unrestricted donations for the first third of fiscal 2026. That would, I guess, should be August, September, October.
more than 66 % of its goal for the full year. For the calendar year 2025, this college, Guilford, has received 12.6 million in unrestricted cash, nearly five times what it had last year. All right.
Gary D Stocker (09:06.51)
I will accept that these are actual gifts. Somebody wrote a check, gave them the check, and not just commitments. Sometimes colleges kind of finesse that. Is it a commitment or is an actual gift cash in hand? But even if they're all, every one of that $12.6 million is cash in hand, this begs, I believe, a fair question. The question is, is Guilford a college?
that can successfully run on operating revenue, tuition and fees.
Gary D Stocker (09:42.538)
Or is it a charity case, dependent on gifts? And sure, they raised more gifts this year. I'll stipulate that. So be it.
Is that sustainable? And is that the type of college where you would want to stand?
Is that the type of college where you would want to send your child? To the data briefly, enrollment down 30%. Four-year graduation rate less than 50 % 2016 to 2023. Tuition revenue and auxiliary fees are down 20 % in nominal terms, not adjusted for inflation. You adjust that net tuition revenue and auxiliary fees for inflation down 38%. Net income margin, don't tell anybody we call it profit, has plummeted since 2021.
They're sitting on more than 60 million, six zero million in debt. Most of the prior endowment is restricted. Now they may have gathered unrestricted gifts this year. And the draw, the money they're taking out of that endowment has been really high in for the past five years. And that endowment has been flat because they've been taking money out of it since 2018.
Gary D Stocker (11:01.678)
And how many times, how many times have I and others noted that there are too many colleges in this country?
Why do we continue to let accrediting agencies engage in year-round mercy accreditations for colleges that do not and almost certainly will not be able to provide a quality college education where students actually graduate and can earn incomes and grow careers that benefit them themselves and any families they may start and grow?
Christian Brothers University also off probation, also from SacSoc. I did a quick look at CBC, Christian Brothers College out of Tennessee. And at quick glance, they don't appear to have the long list of financial issues that Guilford has. If you have specific questions about Christian Brothers College, me a note. I'll be glad to answer those for you. That's Gary at College Viability. Gary at collegeviability1.com College ViDO. It shifts.
Resources Coming with Layoffs. This is from Ryan Supe and the Idaho Statesman on December 8th. The College of Idaho is eliminating three undergraduate majors and adding six new programs amid a, some creativity here, amid a shift of resourcing. Okay. This is from the chief executive officer at the College of Idaho. Starting next fall, the Caldwell base gets us Idaho.
This liberal arts college will no longer offer theater, communication arts, and philosophy as majors.
Gary D Stocker (12:45.538)
They will be replaced with new undergraduate majors in biochemistry, in finance, and criminology, and three master's degrees, data analytics, exercise science, and accountancy. I'm sure somebody in the state of Idaho has researched those, and that's what Idaho needs. Great. Here's my question. I really, and that question is my comment. I really hope that the high schools,
high schools in Idaho can prepare enough students, academically prepare enough students for these more challenging majors in finance and biochemistry, criminology, analytics, exercise science, and accounting. Page two, that was a long, long section on layoffs and cutbacks. Why a college fighting for survival is slashing economics and physics majors. That was the lead.
This is from Megan Greenwell at Bloomberg on December 9th. And the subheading reads that Albright in Pennsylvania, the new president is cutting programs and selling art and real estate and vowing not to hire anyone with tenure.
Ms. Greenwell asks, is this the way forward for liberal arts colleges?
So this is the college I talked about in the intro, at the start. It's with our library. They have been trying to not rebuild, but remodel the current library. And there's a long story and Ms. Grimoire does a good job describing that. It's been with our library as I understand it since 2019, although the end is near for the college to have a library, a remodeled library sometime in early 2026. And the president Albright, Deborah Townsley,
Gary D Stocker (14:38.882)
has a history of going into other colleges and cutting faculty and staff and programs. Cutting faculty and staff and programs. right, anybody can do that. Not always fun, not always met with a positive reception. And then she proceeds what we've seen others do and I've talked about this. Folks like Deborah Townsley then proceed to do what other college presidents do, they sell futures.
Gary D Stocker (15:06.498)
They don't sell what the college doesn't have or can't have. They try and sell futures and they're adding sports. I'll talk about that here in a second. And so here's some content and context from Megan Greenwell's story. A dozen professors at Albright College, Pennsylvania, that Ms. Townsley's administration chose to meet with Bloomberg Business Week, agreed that Albright was at risk of collapse.
before she came in and said that while the period of contraction has been challenging, they're confident in her leadership and her path forward. hand selected, hand picked.
I would hope they would say that.
Gary D Stocker (15:56.364)
Other faculty members at mostly didn't respond to interview requests or declined to comment on the record, citing Deborah Townsley's request that they not speak to the media without permission. Well, sarcasm alert. Well, it's good to know that transparency is alive and well at Albright College in Pennsylvania, and they continue to grow.
sports teams. And I think I had this on a podcast earlier. For example, they have 68 players on the baseball roster. And I'm guessing most listeners to this week in College Viability have the basic enough understanding of baseball that you get nine players. So nine times six is 54, nine times seven is 63. They have enough players to field seven individual teams at once.
And only a dozen or so, maybe two dozen can even travel to away games. I don't know what they do for home games. The football squad has 120, you can play 11. She says, Ms. Townsley says, Dr. Townsley I guess, says the number could grow to 140.
Gary D Stocker (17:15.852)
This is,
This is nothing more than bait and switch. Colleges like Albright College in Pennsylvania, they say, hey, come here and play. We're not talking 100 % scholarships here. These student athletes, student hope to be athletes.
have to pay tuition in some form or fashion, some discounted, I'm sure. They have to pay fees, tuition and fees. So it's really a pay to play scheme. And the book, Bankrupt You, talks about that in great detail. I've talked about that before as well. It's a pay to play scheme. And then only a small number, a small percentage of these students who go to Albright to play sports actually get to play. Actually get to play, but they take on the same college expenses.
probably debt as those that do get a chance to play. I don't doubt for a second that those that play are better athletes. But I do worry that colleges like Albright are preying on folks who want to do college sports and they're not getting the chance to play, but they're paying and not even getting the chance to play. Moving on, the price of waiting too long to close. is just another affirmation. Anna Sillers had this from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni on their
the forum, a newsletter, I believe, on December 10th. And the essence of this is a follow-up on the higher education story, higher education dive story about Limestone College's closure. Their announcement was earlier this year. And I only bring this up, bring this story up as yet another reminder that in today's higher education market, past is prologue in almost every case.
Gary D Stocker (19:04.994)
Colleges like Albright and Web Street University and others I've talked about on the podcast can shout recovery from whatever high mountaintop they can get to. And they're doing it based on internal data, not on financial statements, not on tax statements.
The market dynamics are such that these proclamations of financial recovery are not... The proclamations from these colleges that they've recovered are not the same as actual recovery. Although in too many cases, reporters buy that and report accordingly that big news, this college has recovered. And I'm only a small part.
A very small part of the growing chorus of higher education voices encouraging colleges and financial distress to act today, not tomorrow, cutbacks, cut expenses, look at mergers. If you need to be upfront, if you need to close, don't wait too long for lots of reasons that I've talked about before. And as I look and I regularly, as you know, look at the financial health of colleges, it's already too late for too many.
and they don't know it or they're gonna admit it. They don't know it or they're not going to admit it. And when we look back on this consolidation era of higher education, it is almost certain that we will be able to readily identify those colleges, mostly private, that waited too long. Page three, college bankruptcies are coming. Now, interesting title. And the subheading on this is from Holly Robbins on December 3rd in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
College bankruptcies are coming. The subheading is chasing an idealized past has undermined higher education's present. Now, Ms. Robbins referenced Joshua Travis Brown's book, Capitalizing on College, How Higher Education Went from Mission Driven to Margin Obsessed released earlier this year. And she writes, we have a cultural investment, a cultural investment in the verdant real estate
Gary D Stocker (21:15.992)
Verdant means green for those that didn't pay attention to college. Verdant real estate where students spend four years to learn to think and to find their passion. They have a winning sports team, sweatshirts with logos, formal pageantry and a vibrant arts and activism culture. The bottom line is, she continues, that this is an important distinction and this is very well thought through from both Ms. Robbins and Mr. Brown. The bottom line is that student loans were paying
for the expansion of colleges and upkeep of those colleges long after the business model made sense. When one takes a hard look at what student loan borrowing has wrought, the Trump administration's turning off the spigot, or at least dramatically slowing the flow of money by capping parent plus and phasing out income-driven repayments makes a certain sense.
as one administrator confesses confess to Joshua Brown, I guess to use an ugly phrase.
It's kind of like the bait and switch. I already mentioned that once in this podcast. You come to our school, we give you a good financial aid package upfront for year one, and students, aren't necessarily going to be successful students, but they can borrow. Two different things. You can borrow money and still be an unsuccessful student. And the prime enabler of all of it has been the federal government.
As one senior leader told Mr. Brown, we could not function if it was not for the feds. If we did not have Pell grants and guaranteed student loans, half our kids couldn't come to school. He goes on to say, Ms. Robbins goes on to write, every student is a pipeline to federal money. Enrolling more students gets the institution more money. How many times have I talked about that? And has worked for many years.
Gary D Stocker (23:16.652)
Maybe the system needs to be one where they pay after the student graduates.
Not going to happen, but a thought. And colleges typically rely on similar financial logic, a massive, the bigger ones do, a massive low cost online, they use the term per periphery, to fund the appearance of prestige because online courses have lower cost base and can scale much more effectively than face to face. So they go on to write, both Ms. Robbins and Mr. Brown, student loans for online tuition.
build the beautiful library, build the state of the art stadium, and the luxury dorm that these students, these online students, will never see.
I've been in enough closed door meetings with administrators, Mr. Brown says, who see students as dollar signs.
Gary D Stocker (24:13.506)
He makes the case that a billion dollar, it's a big number, a billion dollar institutional endowment built with student tuition, a billion dollar institutional endowment built with student tuition is a sophisticated mechanism for laundering public money, laundering public money through private debt.
Students are conduits for federal dollars, taxpayer money that flows directly to the university. He calls it a shell game. It is the government, not the students who are the real philanthropists here. And the federal loan system, as I've shared and others have shared, the federal loan system provides guaranteed revenue with virtually no institutional financial risk. Now, Ms. Robbins and Mr. Brown are both addressing what I have shared for years, the reporter and the writer.
Ms. Robbins and Mr. Brown, take a different look at the higher education industry, different perspective, different angle than I do. But let me read this section again. A billion dollar institutional endowment built with student tuition is a sophisticated mechanism for laundering public money through private debt. Students are conduits for federal tax, for federal dollars that flow directly to the university.
It's a shell game. It's a shell game. That, friends, that, friends, is not a good look for higher education. Page four, Colorado. Colorado Governor Jared Polis once merged the higher education and labor departments. Jason Gonzalez had this story at Chalk Beat, Colorado on December 10th. Let me read from Mr. Gonzalez's story.
A plan from Colorado's governor would end Colorado's higher education department in its current form and create a new agency that would merge the function of the state's higher education, labor, and other departments in a bid to strengthen workforce development. All right, logical enough. And other states have been doing this. South Carolina, Virginia, and Missouri are ones that are referenced in this story. And again, like always, I will have the links to these story in the show notes. And this is just
Gary D Stocker (26:29.4)
This is another example, a good example, a positive example of the higher education industry adapting and adjusting to the market.
Keep in mind, like I said earlier in the podcast, there are at least a handful of states also setting majors completion number minimums. Folks, the market is adjusting. We may look back on 2025 and realize that was the year, as Jeff Slingo said, that colleges started to recognize they can't offer 150 majors for 500 students.
And let's do an end of year wrap, brief end of year wrap. regular listeners know that I am the guy who pokes the higher education bearer.
Gary D Stocker (27:25.026)
I do that as part of the mission, part of my mission to increase transparency, increase transparency and communication in this complex industry. But I want to end this podcast here with something I've shared regularly, and that's the college viability manifesto. It is my succinct take on the value of a college degree and the evaluation priorities families should focus on when making
a college decision. The College Viability Manifesto number one, college is good. College is good, really good. Go if you can.
Number two, graduation is better, better than just going. Number three, some colleges will not, some colleges will not survive. Many, many, many will. Number four, only consider colleges in comparatively good financial health. That's my business. That's the college viability app. That's the tool I use for Matt Hendricks in the college financial compass.
Number five, your FAFSA tells colleges about your finances. The college liability apps and a variety of reports that I have shows students and families about the finances of colleges. It's only fair that if they know about your finances, you know about theirs. Number six, enrollment trends matter. Graduation rates matter even more.
Number seven, popularity indicators are important. call that admissions yield in higher education. Number eight, closing colleges will cost you a lot of money for lots of different ways. And number nine, and finally, support higher education in the United States. It does make a difference in lives. And I have shared my story with listeners before. As always, I am grateful for each and every one of you that make time to listen and share the podcast with others.
Gary D Stocker (29:30.926)
This is an industry in trouble. This is an industry where the market is adjusting. And 2026 and beyond will continue to bring trauma and challenge with this industry. And I will be here every Monday with more details, more news and commentary on higher education. Gary Stocker for College Viability. Thanks as always for listening.