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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 (00:01.662)
It is Monday, May 18, 2026. It is the 200th, yes, that's right, the 200th podcast episode of This Week in College Viability News and Commentary. Hi, everybody. Gary Stocker in front of the Blue Yeti microphone and the always running Riverside.fm podcast software. Welcome to number 200. It is, course, the podcast that talks about the financial health and viability of public and private colleges with data and with details.
and perspectives we believe offered to nowhere else. And I guess if you follow the podcasting world much at all, you're aware that almost all podcast efforts never get to the 10th episode. That's right, the 10th episode. And I know why. It's not easy. It's not easy to put together 20 to 30 minutes of interesting and entertaining and informative content every week.
Luckily, I stumbled on Google Alerts when I started the show. And of course, thanks to those many, many, many colleges who post content worthy of use on the show. And my tongue is firmly embedded in my cheek as I talk about that. And I'm really at the point now where I reject more content for the show than I use. Yes, I've become picky. I've learned what works for the show and what doesn't. I hope you agree.
If not, feel free to drop me a note, garyatcollegeviability.com. And I guess I've developed my own internal judgment for what content is worthy for you, my listeners. So with that, this week we have Colorado. The state of Colorado cuts aid to private college students. Very strange because it's a relatively small amount of number. Pretty despicable.
Pretty Despicable is a student description of Hampshire College, we can guess why. And there are some other New Hampshire colleges spinning their enrollment. You gotta be careful if you do that, because I'm gonna catch it and we're gonna talk about it. And apparently the state of South Carolina doesn't have any calculators that work. Of course, there are details behind that story. For now, they need an emergency $25 million in large part because
Gary D Stocker (02:25.068)
The calculators didn't work not once, but twice. And then in the wrap today, I'm going to talk about moving the podcast to a slightly different focus, slightly more consistent focus for students and family content. I'll tell you why as I wrap the show later today. And again, the 2026 College Majors Completion App with so many colleges week in and week out, cutting programs, cutting majors. You need to know.
If your major is strong, whether you're faculty or staff, students, and I have versions for students and families and versions for academic leaders as well, that of course is at collegeviability.com and in the products section. So where do we usually start? Well, for the 200th episode, we're going to start every the same place we started every other week, layoffs and cutbacks. Portland State, Oregon, to cut two legacy programs, layoff 52 employees.
in a budget balancing effort. Tiffany Kimme had that story along with Elizabeth Miller at obp.org. don't know what that is. Portland State University President Ann Cudd announced the plan elimination of two signature programs and reductions across seven departments. 52 staff members, 12 month layoff notices. Give them credit for that. At some lead time, which the president Ann Cudd says will save.
The university, $16 million, let's go to Vermont. Declining enrollment is driving a $12 million budget deficit at the University of Vermont. 7 % decrease across all undergraduate grade levels. Corey McDonald had that story on May 13th at the Vermont Digger. And I guess, get out the sarcasm alert. I wanna thank the Dallas Morning News.
for asking a question to an answer I have given for years. And they asked in a recent article, does Texas have too many universities and too few students? And again, for those who follow the podcast on a regular basis, we talk about the higher education market all the time, too many colleges, not enough students. Thank you Dallas Morning News for confirming what we've talked about for years on that topic. Page two.
Gary D Stocker (04:51.69)
OCU, Oakland City University, small private Christian College in Indiana, Oakland City, Indiana.
They had to say, we're not closing.
anytime soon, and that's according to Mr. Todd Mosby, who's Oakland City University's Associate Vice President of Marketing, Development and Communication. So a whole bundle of stuff that tells you something right there, who tells this news organization, Channel Four News, Channel Four Teen News in Oakland City. Emma Beck and Aaron Chapman had the story on May 13th. He says the university finalized a strategic partnership that should, I'm quoting here,
should allow them to remain open. The news outlet has told this partnership, which had no specifics, okay, was finalized within hours of a meeting last week and still has to be signed onto paper. Let me give you one word description here, Hope. The partnership is great, Mr. Moseby said. We hope to have everything put in writing so far.
And on and on it goes. despite all this, Oakland City employees still haven't gotten paid what the university owes them and what the university calls banking issues. And again, the representative said, we're still working on that. It's essentially they're blaming on the banks not getting the cash available. Apparently, Warren notices, which say, hey, heads up on layoffs, is still legally in place. But Mosby says, with the partnership, they shouldn't be needed.
Gary D Stocker (06:29.646)
And he goes on to qualify this and this. This is amateur hour. This, this is amateur hour. This college, I'm not going to go into their data. They're not in good financial shape. Current students, future students, parents, let me teach you an important and relevant Latin phrase. For those of you who listen to the show, you've heard it before. Caveat emptor. Caveat emptor means buyer beware.
If you are at Oakland City University or considering Oakland City University, please, please beware. Please look out for your own academic and career best interests. It is quite reasonable to assume that this university may, may not be your best option. There are other colleges out there, lots of them willing to take you. This may not be your best option, no matter what kind of vague.
self-serving promises are being made. And by the way, the last line in this story I'm quoting here, employees were asked by the university not to speak with us talking about the news outlet, draw your own conclusions. And those that follow know that I recently moved out to Colorado Springs. And this story caught my attention, not because I moved out here, but the state of Colorado is initially passed an amendment.
that would cut 14 million in aid to private institutions. And then it became law, I'm sorry, not true, it passed both legislators last week, for the governor's signature or veto. Governor Jared Polis, I believe, is a governor out here in Colorado. And it seems like a small amount of money, $14 million in what would be a not even couch money for a state like Colorado. And then on the 15th, Raya Jaya.
I had the news on NBC Channel 9 that it's passed both the Senate and the House. I don't know what to make of this. A representative from Regis University was interviewed for the May 12th story. So I went to the data for Regis and there are challenges of the 15 measures that Matt Hendricks has in his college financial compass. Regis is negative, not good, negative in 12 of them, including some 48 million in operating losses from 2023.
Gary D Stocker (08:55.502)
through 2025, total net assets are down 23 million enrollment, FTE enrollment is down 1300 students, and the endowment per 1 million in total operating revenue is below its peer group and below the national private college median. don't know if this is penny pinching in Colorado. I don't know if it's political payback, but the 14 million cut is significant for Regis and others.
If a listener here in Colorado knows more, drop me a note, garyatcollegeviability.com, page three, Southern Oregon University. We've had them on the show before. And urgent operational reality faces a looming cash shortfall, course, at Southern Oregon University. They've had enrollment declines. This story was on February 4th. It looks like I missed it the first time around. Ben Unglesby had the story. And really, as you read the story, and then
Again, the links will always be in the show notes. This is really a story about a college, a public college, that did not know how to monitor its financial position. That's the conclusion I'm drawing from reading the story. Current trends show a cash deficit of some $7 million in early next year, early 2027. And here's the kicker. Here's what tells me a lot. At the end of the story,
There's a quote, in the midst of a hiring freeze at Southern Oregon University, they are hiring two finance folks. And here's how Ben Unglesby wrote it. They also acknowledged they must have better awareness against Southern Oregon University. They must have better awareness of all fiscal matters, including through monthly cash flow reports. They plan to hire two critical positions in finance and budgeting despite the hiring freeze to provide more visibility.
More visibility into the university's fiscal state.
Gary D Stocker (11:00.878)
Can somebody give me at least one Gish, if not two on this? I don't know what's going on. I don't know how long that's been the case, clearly for a while. A comment on the industry and a comment on some leadership in the industry is probably not what it needs to be. Let's move on to Hampshire College. And of course, we know that they announced their closure a couple of weeks ago. And here's the headline. Brickhouser, the Boston Globe, had the story on May 15th.
The headline reads, Pretty Despicable. Pretty Despicable. Hampshire College closure leaves students and parents scrambling to figure out next steps. Well, many of my 200 podcasts to date have had stories like this. When a college closes, people get upset. Even when a reasonable argument could have been made, they should have known that the college was in trouble and may not survive. So here is a story from Brookhouser.
When Lila Mayer visited Hampshire College with her parents as a prospective student in 2022, they asked the admissions team some blunt questions. Are you going to be open for the full four years? Am I going to be able to get my degree here? Ms. Mayer recently recalled. And they were like, and quoting an article here, I don't sound like this. And they were like, absolutely. The school offered Mayer a merit award, called a discount.
worth 35,000 a year, which was the only way we felt we could send her to Hampshire," said her mother Joan Advent. Hampshire's total cost is 79,000 and change. The average packet for students is $55,000 and change. And another student, I think, I feel like Hampshire, the parent, I guess, I feel like Hampshire wanted, just wanted my student, my child to be there for a butt in seat. That's pretty gross.
a butt in seat to put off the inevitable, said Rebecca Wengler. We were sold something that didn't exist. Now, do you know how many colleges
Gary D Stocker (13:16.61)
do this same high price, high tuition price, high tuition discount model.
They are pricing the college experience as a million dollar home, but this million dollar home only has two bedrooms and one bath and I don't know, 60 square feet or 600 square feet. And then they discount the heck out of it with grandiose scholarship names that are not much more than unfunded discounts. are unfunded discounts.
Ms. Wango goes on to say, meanwhile, she's been advising caution to other families. That's why we exist here at College Viability. She said she has been posting about these funky little funky colleges, and that's referencing Hampshire College as well. And I'm like, again, quoting, are you people reading like Google this?
Google this, don't just fall for the marketing. She's talking about Googling Hampshire colleges, clothing colleges, colleges in financial trouble, either through Google or your favorite AI tool. Don't just fall for the marketing, she adds. You're going to put your kid in the exact same position. I'll use this story to announce again that the college viability inspection report is now available. We posted it to mycollegeviability.com yesterday on Sunday.
And it's a caveat impter tool. It lets students and families and others be aware of the financial health, successes or lack of successes, using nine parameters that we make green and red for obvious reasons. You can get almost all the data for nothing. I'll explain it more detail, and I've got a demo out there as well. The college viability inspection report at mycollegeviability.com.
Gary D Stocker (15:13.134)
where you're still trying to decide for this fall, or you're an adult looking at colleges, or if you're a parent or a counselor just getting started on the 2027 admission season, take a look. Take a look.
Gary D Stocker (15:34.616)
To the spin we go, bucking national projections. Some New Hampshire colleges are reporting strong fall 2026 enrollment figures. Jeremy Margolis had this story on May 13th in the Concord Monitor. here is the first enrollment good revenue doesn't matter story for the fall of 2026. It's another one of our, what I've talked about before, regurgitation reporting.
Regurgitation reporting is when reporters essentially file a story without editing on content written by the college without any kind of critical analysis like we do here at College Viability. And again, the College Viability Inspection Report, mycollegeviability.com. Reporters, reporters, it's free.
You can get the data a lot quicker than by going to iPads or trying to scrounge up audited financial statements. If you're for more in-depth data, reporters, drop me a note, gary at college viability. We'll zoom and I'll step you through whatever college or colleges you're looking at.
And just a sidebar here.
administrators and spokespeople at Colby Sawyer, these are all New Hampshire colleges, Colby Sawyer, Keen State and Plymouth State all wrote in statements that they were also experiencing particularly high interest in their nursing programs. All right, Gary Stocker, history here. I'm a medical laboratory scientist by training. I worked in hospital laboratories off and on for many, many, years. I've seen a lot. I can't seen it all, but I've seen a lot.
Gary D Stocker (17:20.116)
of acute care and even chronic care in healthcare industries. a while back I asked a 20 year nursing veteran, said, hey, is there really a nursing shortage? And her reply stunned me. She said, well, there's not a shortage of nurses. There's a shortage of good nurses. Think about that. There's not a shortage of nurses number wise, but there's a shortage of good nurses. So let me ask you a rhetorical question.
What do you think colleges are leading with when recruiting nursing students? Salary, right? $40, $50 an hour, right out of college.
Gary D Stocker (18:04.16)
And here's what they're not sharing. And here's what I experienced when I was in health care. And even though nursing may offer and does offer some good starting compensation, you know, turn off your audio if you don't want to hear three disgusting words.
They may start with good compensation, but poop and pee and blood and other body fluids and sick people, nursing students, are part of the job, big part of the job. How many colleges are accepting nursing students with a promise of strong compensation, but who have no idea what they're getting into, even if they get through?
associate or bachelor's degree program.
South Carolina needs better calculators.
South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. They need 25 million more to pay for scholarships already awarded. Jessica Holden had this story in the South Carolina Daily Gazette on May 8th. Here's the story. Miscalculations have left South Carolina's higher education agency 25 million short of what needs to pay colleges for state-sponsored scholarships awarded this year. It goes on to say it's a flip.
Gary D Stocker (19:30.446)
from revelations of $152 million surplus, surplus in scholarship money less than three years ago, also due to bad projections. So sarcasm alert, sarcasm alert, the red lights flashing. If I had a siren, I had to have the siren going off. I wonder which South Carolina college these miscalculation geniuses
came from, what's the data source? The colleges, the local media, niche, AGB, the college board, all of them, all of them, maybe not the media, all of them have vested self-interest in making higher education look strong. And that's where we are different at college viability. I probably need to do a better job of talking about this. College viability is an independent entity.
We generate our own data. The colleges don't pay us. We don't do consulting gigs. We don't pay colleges to post in our stuff. We don't do advertising. We don't consult with colleges. We do our own research and analysis. Yeah, we charge small amounts for our products to generate revenue. Riverside.fm and this Blue Yeti microphone cost money. I have to pay for those. But nobody in higher education pays us. Nobody pays us.
to directly or indirectly promote their college.
Gary D Stocker (21:04.268)
And then as I get to the wrap and I'll talk about where we're headed next, there was a LinkedIn post. Jeff Doyle did the post and he and I have communicated for a while. And he writes, thanks to L.D. Salmondson for sharing this. And there's a quote here, working your way through college now takes five times more hours than it did in 1970.
Gary D Stocker (21:27.296)
And there's more depth and detail to the story and I will leave the link. I've got the LinkedIn post I'll have in the show notes.
And I bring this up because colleges with their financial aid offers routinely offer the opportunity for graduates to work at colleges.
Gary D Stocker (21:50.23)
earn income by working somewhere at the college. But what this story tells us is it doesn't work. In proportion to how much tuition is, working your way through college, a phrase from generation or two ago doesn't really make sense now.
College affordability has been deteriorating for decades, but who knows what the AI impact is going to have in the coming years.
Gary D Stocker (22:21.612)
And so colleges offer this work study with no guarantees as part of the financial aid package. And so to students and to their families, their parents and others, colleges continue to offer antiquated and insufficient resources to help pay for college. When a college offers work study on your financial aid package, feel free, and I would encourage you to challenge them. How many hours? When am going to be working? What's the hourly rate?
and what you are likely to almost certain to get, is a qualified answer somewhere along the lines of it depends. It depends.
From my perspective, college viability, run away. Don't consider offers like this. They are not a reasonable option to significantly help pay for the high cost of college. And so the transition. Starting with podcast number 201 next week, and yes, I'll do the podcast even on Memorial Day. I'm going to expand the focus. I'm going to expand the focus of this week in college viability.
And many of you, because I talk about it, are well aware that I poke the higher education bear each week. Lord knows it needs to be poked. Colleges spin data and information that needs to be countered, transparency that needs to be proffered are an important part of what we have done so far with this week in college viability. But there is an audience that while I try and address them in other podcasts that I do,
There's an audience that needs and deserves more attention from this show. This is the most popular show that I do with hundreds of downloads each and every week. And I want that to be thousands of downloads each and every week. Almost every family moving through the college selection process is confronted with some degree of financial challenge, challenges with choosing a major, understanding financial aid, and much more.
Gary D Stocker (24:27.918)
With this week's release of the College Viability Inspection Report at mycollegeviability.com, our move now is to more aggressively inform and serve students and their parents with this podcast. And we're now ready to do that. And we'll start with episode 201 next week. Hey, thanks again. For the first 200, let's do 200 more together. I'll be back next Monday with another episode.
of this week in College Viability. I'm Gary Stocker at College Viability.