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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 Stocker (00:00:01)
It is Monday, August 17th, 2026. Hi, everybody, Gary Stalker in front of the blue Yeti microphone. Welcome back ⁓ to another podcast episode of This Week in College Viability News and Commentary. And of course, as I start each week, 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 with perspective and with challenges.
Offered nowhere else. So to start off today's show, this morning I observed an American tradition, the first day ⁓ of the school year. And for regular listeners, you know my wife and I moved from St. Louis to Colorado Springs this past April, about four months ago. And directly across the street from us is an elementary school. I think it's pre-K through five. And our back
Patio looks over the school grounds, across the street and over to school grounds. And as I was making my first iced tea of the day, I watched countless moms and dads and children both driving and walking to school. Now, don't take away my guy card, but I was touched. ⁓ I saw one mom and daughter in a very strong ⁓ and long hug.
And there were so many touching scenes of this first day of school. Now it's been many years, ⁓ many years, since my wife and I dropped off our youngest at college. ⁓ And still, those though many years later, the emotions of that day are still prominent in my mind. And even for a more recent story, because I follow this stuff, as you might imagine, ⁓ I listened to Penn ⁓ and Kim Holderness, their Laugh Lines podcast. It's really good. Check it out. Kim and
Penn, P E N N Holderness. And they shared a story about their college drop off. I think it was a year ago, and the trauma that happened then as they dropped their daughter off ⁓ and when they got back home. And then ⁓ just this past summer, I believe, they actually had their daughter on the podcast to share with others, with other listeners, and there are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of listeners, ⁓ she shared her tips and tricks for the first year of college. That was very done.
Gary Stocker (00:02:26)
Very well done. And I could, if you watch closely, both parents almost had tears in their eyes as they listened to this. All right. So how does this, how does this connect to college viability? ⁓ Many ⁓ of those children and their families across the street and across the country will start to experience college in what, about six years? Fifth graders are what, 11 to 12 years old, right? So in about six years. And many, many, as I've said before, many of those young people will get great value.
From their college experience. Too many of those young people will not. And we all know the value. We all know the value that education brings. And I've talked about it many times on this show and in the other media that I have done. And I g I guess I'll put it in this context. ⁓ We we worry about whether our children are ready academically. Always. We encourage them to get good grades. Always.
We help them choose activities. And eventually in the high school time frame, we probably start talking about college and majors and ⁓ college applications and financial aid and scholarships and ⁓ campus visits and all those kind of things. So we spend a lot of time, all of our children's first 18 years, give or take, preparing them for the potential college.
How much time? This is a rhetorical question, how much time do we spend asking whether the college is ready for them? How much time do we spend asking and thinking and researching whether the college is ready for our children?
We spend so many years preparing our children to go to college, but very little time preparing families to judge the college itself. ⁓ And don't just ask whether your child is good enough for the college. That's what the cultural mandate is. You really have to ask whether the college, whether the college is good enough for your child, financially, outcome, value, and all those things. And we have each of those in the tools that create and create.
Gary Stocker (00:04:39)
Including the My College Decision Lens coming out two weeks from today. And I'll have more about that next week. So this week on this week, private college students in Washington State ⁓ face public funding cutbacks. Ooh. Clemson University facing budget priorities, reallocations. Kind of an interesting twist on that. And we have a self-declared exit. Yes, indeed, I guess colleges can do that. We have a self-declared exit from a financial crisis.
The University of Tulsa slashes tuition by more than half. We've had a similar story before. And a judge approves of Vermont College, St. Michael's, to dip into restricted endowment funds. And I'll talk more about that. And you can guess where I'm going. It ain't gonna be good. And of course, much, much more. And as I said moments ago, ⁓ my college decision lens out two weeks from today, ⁓ we think it has potential to change the way students and their families.
judge and assess and make sure, make more informed decisions about whether college, a college is ready for them, not vice versa. So to layoffs and cutbacks, we go Nebraska. ⁓ University of Nebraska or Nebraska University is considering degree eliminations. They have what appears to be a $20 million ⁓ shortcut, ⁓ $20 million losses ⁓ in budget cuts needed. And here's here's some of the programs some of the majors are cutting. Ethnic studies,
Bachelor's degree in insect science. ⁓ interestingly, the University of Nebraska Medical Center is cutting a post-baccalaureate certificate in infectious disease epidemiology. Must not do a very good job marketing that. And a Master of Arts in Physical Education Exercise, just a couple. Master of Science in Urban Studies, and even the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the Executive Business Analytics Graduate Certificate. Again, some of these.
Kind of shocking because you would think they would have some strong draw. Anyway, that's what's happening in Nebraska. The Washington, let's go to Washington State. They're slashing financial aid promised, promised to students attending private universities. Eliz Eliza Eliza Lords had the story. ⁓ excuse me, Eliza Lords Mendario had the story on August 11th, and it was posted at MSN.com. And so there's a specific student, I'm not gonna share the name, that wanted to be a nurse and had
Gary Stocker (00:07:01)
been promised aid from the state of Washington for the for the private university she attended, Pacific Lizon University. And it was called the Washington College Grant and College Bound Scholarship. It's the state's largest financial aid program for low-income students. Well, starting this school year, the state financial aid that made it possible for students like they're talking about in this story, and she's a nursing student, to attend private colleges will be reduced by a third, almost a third.
creating s creating uncertainty of as you might imagine, creating uncertainty for these students who rely on this financial public financial aid program for private colleges, for their school.
Alright, so I've not seen a story like that before. ⁓ I'm pretty sure there are other public financial aid offers available for students in other states. I'd have to check out on that to be sure. But what this is is yet another market adjustment. Another market adjustment the state of Washington is doing that reflects on the cost pressures in higher education. That the state of Washington, the public entity, has given. ⁓
And is now taking away financial aid as an indicator of how serious, how serious they view the expenses associated with colleges and universities in their state. Page two to Clemson University. They had a new president start on August 1st. ⁓ And five days before that, ⁓ he may he sent a note to faculty and staff that said, Hey, I'm paraphrasing here, be prepared for some jobs to go unfilled and for potential voluntary buyouts.
As part of a broader realignment that will shift funding priorities. Now the memo from ⁓ a leadership at Clemson did not name specific departments. They just said we're navigating with fewer resources.
Gary Stocker (00:08:59)
Encouraging departments to consider leaving positions open. Good luck with that. So, compensation and benefits at Clemson are it's the biggest expense, as they are at all colleges, about a billion dollars in change. So the memo from this the ⁓ five-day till president at Clemson University stressed that the university isn't responding to a financial crisis. ⁓ Got your spirits.
Your spinomomomet spinometer, they're not responding to a financial crisis. ⁓ And they also said that some departments might see funding shifted to other priorities. And they say not every activity can grow or be supported the same way. ⁓ And they're just trying as ⁓ the drivel, it should have been a drivel statement here. The Clemson spokesman confirmed that steps are being taken to preserve the university's financial health.
Support responsible planning and position it to lead in a changing higher education environment. Of course, who's not gonna say something like that? We could copy and paste that for many, many, many other colleges. It goes, they go on to say it's important to note Clemson is not reducing its overall budget. All right, I I I'm not gonna be picky on that. There it looks like they're just gonna reallocate. ⁓ And my best gut call on this is like I've shared with a few other colleges.
They're just trying to get ahead and stay ahead of the financial pressures that are present and those that are coming. William Jewell College from Clemson in the ACC to William Jewell, who I don't know what conference they're in. William Jewell College ⁓ exits financial crisis, announces record enrollment. Julia Samahorn had the story on KCTV5 on August 13th. And here's what she writes: following an intense 18-month strategic restructuring.
⁓ I guess it has to be a strategic restructuring. William Jewell College said it has it has officially exited financial exigency. So they've exited exigency and launched a squeaky, sweeping ⁓ academic reorganization. Well, I don't know how you do that. ⁓ I don't know how you can declare your own exit from financial exigency rather than just saying it on your own. And and ⁓
Gary Stocker (00:11:27)
I guess the reason this one made the show is I posted something a response to this on LinkedIn. It's it's just another example of regurgitation reporting. Now, in the course of the podcast, you'll hear me say many good things about reporters. There some folks doing some great work, and I've got a couple of those coming up. ⁓ But too many times, too many of these publications just are vomiting out, pardon the words, regurgitating what the colleges give them. ⁓ So ⁓ as a customer service, as a listener service.
I, Gary Stocker, will do the critical thinking and let the independent data, not just marketing from a college, show a more transparent and balanced look. There's some good things at William Jewell, to be sure. A more transparent and balanced look at William Jewel College. All right, so our own college viability inspection report, and again, if you have your house inspected, you should have your college inspected. We measure nine parameters, ⁓ and the good folks at William Jewell are flagged on five of the nine.
And I'll include the link in the show notes. It's an actual live page for William Jewell. You can drill down to all the measures that we do, see how we do them, and decide the value. And I also looked at Matt Hendrick's Prospective Data Science Financial Compass and the key measures that Matt has on the app for him for William Jewell. And this is from their audited financial statements, from their IRS 990 tax documents. And Matt measures five 15 key measures. ⁓ And William Jewell was flagged on nine of them.
Alright, so five of nine and nine of fifteen, draw your own conclusions in the overall scheme of things because they have ⁓ declared they're done ⁓ with financial exigency. So ⁓ again, I mentioned it's not all bad news at William Jewell. In 2025, they did show a $6.3 million positive adjusted net income, but the decreasing total net assets and decreasing endowment along with a negative UNAP.
All of those components raise concerns. ⁓ And and for those again wanting to do critical research, unlike this reporter, they also l earned at William at William Jewell College a Forbes financial grade in 2026 of 1.69, also known as a D for D for dog in terms of financial capacity. So ⁓ again, colleges spin. They're welcome to spin their information. ⁓ I can't change that.
Gary Stocker (00:13:53)
They always have, they always will. I'm I'm your quality control person. College liability served as your quality control resource, both through this podcast, media, the apps that we create. And ⁓ in this money ball era for higher education, there is readily available data to spin these colleges back to reality. And that's all I'm trying to do for William Jewell. And they're not the only ones by far. They're not the only ones spinning this data to their spinning this data to their perceived advantage.
That's what they do. And that's why I'm here. But to reporters, and again, if you don't have the resources, if you don't have the time, reach out to me. If you want to take advantage of these data sources that I use to supplement and engage in your own critical thinking about these college press releases presented as news, drop me a note, Gary at college viability. Gary at college viability, one long word, college viability.com. Drop me a note. I'll I'll provide you with a professional courtesy link or
provide you as a resource when looking at and trying to analyze the financial data. And something you're gonna see more of is, and this is for parents, so if you're a college administrator, admissions person, faculty member, don't listen.
Students and parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, let me give you eight college decision guidelines that you're gonna hear more be hearing more about from us soon. And number one is inspect before you invest.
Number two, trust verified data. So many times colleges in these news press releases will share summaries but no data. And I've got a story like that coming up. Compare colleges. There are some many, many colleges, hundreds of colleges doing well. Don't take a college's words, compare them. Use our tools to compare them. Look beyond rankings and look beyond press releases, obviously. Judge outcomes. And the big outcome we always focus on here at college reliability is four-year graduation rates. Don't
Gary Stocker (00:15:53)
Rely, don't just use promises. And ask informed questions. And the My College decision lands, I've talked about a couple of times. We're going to give you questions, relevant questions to ask. ⁓ And just released last night was a tool we have that we created that will let students and their families practice conversations with a college admissions rep. And I'll have more details about that coming up soon.
But asking informed qu informed questions is a big deal. Don't just ask them if students like it, what's the best part of the college? Ask them what's their four-year graduation rate. What has it been the last five years? Ask them if they made money last year or the year before or the year before. Ask them if their endowment is growing or shrinking. And we'll have provide these kinds of questions and much, much more in the tool that is released. ⁓ one was recently released yesterday and the other will be released two weeks from today. Demand transparency, tougher for students and families to do. That's why I'm here.
And evaluate number eight, evaluate today's college, not yesterday's reputation. How many times have we seen colleges in trouble saying what we've been here since 1864 doesn't mean anything, doesn't mean anything. Let's go to Oklahoma. And let's go to Tulsa, Oklahoma. The University of Tulsa slashes tuition by more than half. Anna Asaki Smith had the story on August 13th, and it was posted at Forbes, Forbes.com. And here is part of Miss Asaki Smith's story.
The University of Tulsa is dramatically cutting ⁓ its undergraduate tuition and fees by over half, from $54,000 to $25,000, effective in the fall of next year, fall of 2027. This significant tuition reset aims to make the private research university more accessible and eliminate sticker shock for prospective students. She continues to write. Sounds more like a press release than a story.
The new price more closely reflects what many students already pay ⁓ after scholarships and financial aid. So 54% less 50% discount, that's $27,000. They're at $25,000. They're right out with ⁓ what that 56, 57% average discount rate is. They're just changing the look and feel. Current students will also benefit from the change or some details behind that. ⁓ And this move, she says, again, press press release statement. This move addresses enrollment pressures.
Gary Stocker (00:18:19)
And growing skepticism about college costs, aligning Tulsa with other institutions, seeking greater pricing transparency. That's a real small number. The goal is to attract more applicants by presenting a clearer, more appealing initial price. Okay. Okay.
I I guess right off the bat, this is ⁓ this is at least another indication that at least some small number of private colleges are coming to their senses about the high price, high tuition price, high tuition discount pricing model. Tease Mathial's book, College is Broken, talks about that a lot. And that just came out on August 1st, I believe. And as I've talked about on on the show before, the the tactic of a price reset, which is what Tulsa is doing, has has
been demonstrated to not be very successful long term at other colleges that that have tried it. Some research results and anecdotal results suggest there may be a bump up ⁓ short term in enrollment, but the long-term impact has not yet been proven. So this may fall in the category of mud against the wall. Probably does. So moms and dads tips and tricks. So again if you're college leaders turn off the turn off the podcast. Moms and dads
Take the list price. It was 54,000 at Tulsa. Discount it on your own. Get your calculator out, get your phone out. Discount it by 60%. That's a little high, but do it anyway. And then ⁓ ask for that.
The 2025 average was 56%. So we're bumping up a little bit higher than that. You can do 50 56% if you want. But when you see a $100,000 list price, it's really, you know, do the math on that. I'll give you a better example. If it's a $10,000 list price, 56% discount gets you a forty-three hundred dollar actual price. Do the math. And and what these colleges like Tulsa are really worried about.
Gary Stocker (00:20:26)
Is that their high price, $54,000 at list, is scaring off potential students and families. And it is. It clearly is. But here's here's the here's the hidden lead, the buried lead from this story. Transparency is all that this reporter was writing about. Transparency is secondary to these colleges, generating incremental tuition revenue.
Revenue, revenue, revenue, revenue ⁓ is their primary driver. Nothing wrong with that. They just ain't saying that. And again, that's why I'm here. Page three.
We've had stories recently about colleges ⁓ using their restricted endowment funds to keep the lights on, to meet payroll. ⁓ And Julia Schulman Hall, who always writes good stuff, and she's one of the many reporters who I note does really good reporting, really good data use, really good analysis, really, really, really good critical thinking. She had this story on August 14th at Mass Live. Judge approves Vermont College to dip into restricted endowment funds.
All right, they got the judge's approval. Give them credit for that. ⁓ And here is what Ms. Shulman Hall writes. St. Michael's president Richard Plum wrote in a court filing that the college faced a serious and credible risk of being forced to cease operations without access to these restricted funds, according to Vermont Public, which first reported the news. The story goes on. The college's endowment has dropped. Now get this, the college's endowment has dropped to nine.
Point eight million, not even ten million dollars. That's not even college couch money. The college's endowment has dropped to $9.8 million as of June of this year. And enrollment has fallen from $1,500 and change to a little over a thousand from 2019 to the fall of 2025 last year. And this is according to the creditor who's raising some concerns, belatedly as always, about St. Michael's. And then here's the part that's always in these bad news stories, especially when a creditors are involved.
Gary Stocker (00:22:37)
A Saint Michael's spokesperson ⁓ a Saint Michael's spokesperson said the college is still fully accredited and its day to day student experience, such as academic programs or student services, ⁓ is not affected.
They go on to say, since implementing a multi-year transformation plan over the past two and a half years, this the college has seen the most successful fundraising year in a decade and stabilized enrollment and reduced its recorded deficit. And this is an example of text, but no numbers. And why why can't we get some numbers out of this? If you have had successful fundraising, what's the number? What's it compared to?
If you have stabilized enrollment, what's the enrollment? What's it compared to?
Gary Stocker (00:23:32)
This is a college. This is a college manipulating the good intentions of previous donors over decades for almost almost for sure. Manipulating the good intentions of donors, of charitable donors, to keep the lights on and meet payroll for a short period of time. And I'll say it again.
Gary Stocker (00:23:56)
Today. I'll say that again. Too many colleges, not enough students. And why the St. Michaels of the world think that they can ⁓ avoid that economic, harsh, harsh economic reality is beyond me. Just all right, I'm gonna be nice. I will stick with that. Frank Landemore at Futurism.com, June 3rd. I missed this story early on. College professors say incoming students no longer. ⁓
Understand middle school math and science.
Gary Stocker (00:24:33)
We've seen that story, similar versions of that come out of California. And here's a quote from Mr. Landemar's story. We now observe
Gary Stocker (00:24:44)
Preparation gap so severe that instructors must reteach middle school math while simultaneously teaching college level stuff.
Gary Stocker (00:24:54)
Okay, ⁓ relatively small sample size, I will give you that. But it does follow the trend that an increasing number of students are headed to college without the skills needed to successfully complete college courses. So here's the dilemma. Colleges need tuition revenue. Colleges need tuition revenue so there's every incentive for them, ⁓ for colleges, to accept and enroll unprepared students.
And and we're looking at a systemic issue, a national issue, and it's not for every high school student by far. There are many, many high school students fully prepared for college, but it it's it it is a systemic issue for too many other high school students that for a variety of reasons are not and cannot get the education they need in middle school, in high school to be prepared for college level content.
But these students are looked at as revenue sources. They're looked at as revenue sources. So admitting them will continue and will continue to see stories like this. Page four. ⁓ The new federal earnings test. Washington seems to have stopped trusting college degrees too. Kyle Saunders, ⁓ who's got a sacred the Sacred Cow BBQ on Subsack, posted this on july twenty second, and and I have
Commented on how good Kyle Saunders is ⁓ on so many of his posts. It's not always on higher education. He's a political scientist by training. He teaches out West. I can't remember if it's Washington State somewhere. But anyway, he writes really good stuff. Kyle Saunders, S-A-U-N-D-E-R-S, ⁓ Substack, and his post on Substack is called Sacred Cow BBQ. Check it out. So here's what comes from this story.
And paraphrasing what Mr. Saunders, Dr. Saunders, I believe said, Washington has crossed an important line. A college degree is no longer being accepted as evidence ⁓ of value simply because an accredited institution awarded it. That's lost that much value. The government increasingly wants colleges to prove their value. We're talking objective value, financial value with outcomes. That's progress.
Gary Stocker (00:27:22)
But earnings are only one piece of the due diligence puzzle. Families should demand.
This is this is college viability. This is Gary Stockware talking. Families should demand the tr the same transparency about the financial health of the college itself.
Gary Stocker (00:27:40)
Before investing 100,000, 200,000, whatever, or more in a college education, students and families deserve evidence that both the degree, which is what Mr. Dr. Saunders is talking about, and the institution delivering it are viable, both. The degree and the institution. The federal government is starting to inspect college outcomes. Families should inspect the college and its financial health. So let's wrap and and let's create a list.
Let's create a list of those who don't trust colleges today. Well, from the previous story, the federal government does not trust colleges today. It varies by state governments, some do, some don't. Surveys suggest many parents and college students don't trust colleges. Businesses are creating their own assessment, their own assessment tools suggesting that they don't trust colleges. Rural communities. Their distrust often stems.
From cultural friction in the economic reality of brain drain, where young people leave for a regional or flagship university and rarely come back to those small communities, making universities appear somewhat, if not seriously, disconnected from the local economy and local economic needs. What we are looking at here, and I've used this analogy before, what we are looking at here is the equivalent of a government mandated nutrition label, the equivalent of a nutrition label for colleges.
For higher education. The main ingredient being measured ⁓ on this nutrition label is financial returns. Financial returns for college students versus those that did not go to college. Fair enough. Now, this will be measured at the degree level, ideally, and that's what the intent is: the degree level to the major's level, nursing and accounting, management, marketing, and many other degrees in almost every college will be fine. Art history, natural medicine, and some.
Number of liberal arts disciplines at some colleges will not survive this nutrition label for financial success for students.
Gary Stocker (00:29:48)
I started off today's show with a story about elementary school students and their first day of school today. And it ⁓ can serve as a reminder of what we did when in our true in our childhood and of the great promise of education for many, for millions. And the mom hugging her daughter that I referenced earlier is a strong reminder what each of us ⁓ as parents have invested in our children. The higher education component is still a vital component.
For millions, for millions of parents and students. And and I guess sadly, ⁓ that same higher education engine is so focused on generating revenue to cover its ever increasing costs that it cannot readily, purposefully, I don't know which differentiate academically prepared students from those that are not. And let's close this week's
So was something I've shared countless times. There are too many colleges, too many colleges, and not enough academic pre academically prepared and financially capable students available.
That is the traditional economic mix that foreshadows consolidation that I talked about so many times. And that consolidation is closures today, more and more closures today. We'll start seeing them again this fall. And mergers tomorrow ⁓ as this industry consolidates.
And I guess I'll wrap to those listening to the show with children of any age in school or for your own school. Here is to a successful 2026-2027 academic year. Hey, thanks for listening. Always appreciate it, always grateful for those listening to the podcast and sharing it with others. Don't be a podcast hog. Share the link. I'll be back next Monday with another podcast episode of This Week in College Viability. I'm Gary Stalker at College Viability.