This Week In College Viability (TWICV)

TWICV News and Commentary for January 19, 2026 This is the podcast that talks about the financial health and viability of public and private colleges with data, details and perspectives offered nowhere else. This week: + California College of the Arts, Will Close in 2027 + Hampshire College warned of potential closure by auditors + After Protests Over Cuts, Mary Baldwin U.'s President Resigns and...

This week: + Closed college bails on faculty and students.  Don’t let this happen to you. + Universities cut over 9,000 jobs in 2025 +  How about a public college that graduated 6% of its students in 2023 getting public funds to build a multi-million dollar STEM building? + Is there a coordinated effort by some in higher education to write stories trying to deny that the industry is in decline? IN...

Sitting in front of the Blue Yeti microphone and the smooth running Riverside.fm podcast software. As ‘Your College Financial Quality Control Advocate’  This is the podcast that talks about the financial health and viability of public and private colleges with data, details and perspectives offered nowhere else.  I talk about delusional colleges, regurgitation reporting,  And College Viability is...

The final 2025 podcast for This Week in College Viability. This is the podcast that talks about the financial health and viability of public and private colleges with data, details and perspectives offered nowhere else. This week's stories include:  +  Lots of layoff and cutback stories today + A college without a library.  (Bloomberg News story I was quoted in) That is the position that Albright...

Greg Pillar answers these questions on this special podcast episode of 'This Week in College Viability'. "Enrollment teams are obviously focused on hitting the numbers, often relying on GPA and test scores. In your experience, why are those metrics failing to predict a student’s actual readiness for the modern college environment?" "If Enrollment focuses on 'getting them in' and Academics focuses...

It is, of course, the holiday season.  Sitting here in front of the Blue Yeti microphone, I have to wonder how many college leadership scrooges are out there.  The Yeti microphone and I look at college finances constantly.  It is almost certain, that even during this holiday season, there are colleges on the brink of announcing they cannot continue. And on that happy note, this is the podcast that...

TWICV News and Commentary for December 1, 2025 This is the podcast that talks about the financial health and viability of public and private colleges with data, details and perspectives offered nowhere else.  + Rider President Says the University Will Survive (That’s a tough sell when I look at the data.) + A study of 44 private colleges in the northeast by Michael Horn and Steven Shulman.   More...

This Thanksgiving week podcast includes stories on: + We are now ‘sunsetting’ programs and majors. + Columbia considers expanding undergraduate enrollment by up to 20 percent   (I wonder why?_ + Rider U’s financial and accreditation troubles continue to make news. + In a dog bites man story:  University Of Nebraska Faculty Senate Votes No-Confidence Against its  Chancellor + When grades stop meani...

TWICV News and Commentary for November 17, 2025 This is the podcast that talks about the financial health and viability of public and private colleges with data, details and perspectives offered nowhere else. Where are we headed this week before Thanksgiving 2025? +  It wouldn’t be a show without cutbacks and layoffs.  We had a closure announcement last week, but the college was so small, it did w...

The headlines for November 10, 2025: + A college closure in Illinois.  How many more colleges are having that discussion? + IHE:  14 colleges with cutbacks and layoffs in October. + In Nebraska, faculty oppose academic program cuts + Accreditors move to control innovation Show notes and links. Suburban Trinity Chistian College to close at end of academic year due to financial challenges October Br...

TWICV News and Commentary for November 3, 2025 This is the podcast that talks about the financial health and viability of public and private colleges with data, details and perspectives offered nowhere else. Today’s show:   + Layoffs and cutbacks + How Closing a University Changes You + The Fragility of Small Scale   2025  Daniel Greenstein + Higher Ed Is Sleepwalking Toward Obsolescence — And AI...

TWICV News and Commentary for Oct 27 2025 This is the podcast that talks about the financial health and viability of public and private colleges with data, details and perspectives offered nowhere else. Call it your college education about colleges. This week: + Central Washington University says ‘ flat is good.”  Get out your anti-spin pills for this one. + Wilberforce University Launches Feasibi...

Podcasting sites were also impacted by the October 20th AWS issues.  So, a day late, probably not a dollar short. Here are the show notes and links for stories in the Oct. 20th podcast Higher ed layoff tracker: Mass. colleges cut more than 400 jobs over six months UNC laying off approximately 50 staff to address budget deficit Thomas Jefferson University to lay off about 650 employees As its under...

Each week I wade through dozens and dozens of higher ed stories from either referrals from others or my own Google Alert searches.  The stories and commentary that make it onto the podcast are my best judgement of what my growing audience wants to hear. For example, there was an Ohio private college president that posted this week that “ Just as culture eats strategy for breakfast, backbone beats...

This is the podcast that talks about the financial health and viability of public and private colleges with data, details and perspectives offered nowhere else.  F orward the podcast link to your higher education friends.  No sense in just you getting latest news and commentary on the whole industry. This week’s show includes: + Many layoff and cutback stories + More tuition resets that focus on a...

In my many years on this earth, I have coached youth sports, served as a basketball referee and baseball umpire for many of those years. As I watch the NIL and transfer portal news, I have been pondering the medium and longer-term fate of the youth sports industry.  Steve Dittmore caught my attention recently with his 'Glory Days' Substack site .  I reached out to him and what resulted is a novel...

Access does not equal success:  You have heard me say many times that too many colleges focus on enrollment and not nearly enough on graduation rates.  This phrase captures the essence of that.  Getting into college does not mean a student will be successful and graduate – yet enrollment is the focus we read and hear about for almost all colleges. Sign up for regular updates on the financial healt...

This week’s theme:  “challenging the enrollment spin”.  I have a set of colleges on today’s show that would like us to believe that they are winning the higher education enrollment game.  Yet, in every case their enrollment data is selective and short-term.  They ignore mostly pathetic graduation rates and don’t even begin to share their troublesome financial picture.  All the while trying to pain...

'Wicked' college experience at Ann Arbor MI football game shows what the value of college could be.   One of the ways I unwind during the last part of each day is to watch YouTube videos.  I like to watch talented entertainers and comedy clips from TV shows.  One of them that came across my feed over the weekend was the UMich Band and Students recently performing a medley of songs from the musical...

The 2nd edition of Requiem for a College 2nd edition by Jonathan Nichols is a deeply personal and cautionary tale that explores the growing trend of college closures in the United States. It's a gripping account that reads like a mystery, but it's based on a true story. The book centers on the closure of Saint Joseph's College in Indiana, a school with a 128-year history that came to a heartbreaki...

A long start to this week's podcast.  I take a detailed look at how colleges spin their enrollment and focus on the financial health data of one college in PA as an example. Sign up for regular updates on the financial health of colleges here. Other stories include: + Higher ed spending up as enrollment plummets at Illinois universities + Impact of Federal Policy Shifts: Higher Education Enrollmen...

I talk about college finances and colleges spinning their numbers regularly.  This is the first time I have had a CFO (interim) come onto the podcast to share the stark reality of the financial challenges at a specfic college - Albright College (PA). Larry Bomback has been the interim CFO since late 2024.  Albright College has been in the news about its financial plight for many months. In this sp...

I am releasing my first 'Best Of' This Week in College Viability podcast.  You will here from 2 short clips during the podcast from former college presidents. Dr. Paula Langteau will discuss 3 key metrics for college closure and than add more on why colleges don't announce their closures sooner. Dr. Ricardo Azziz discusses 3 topics on mergers and acquisistions. The first clip will be the reasons w...

Lots and lots and lots of enrollment announcements last week.  So, I decided to do a little tally exercise.   You will be interested to see how many of these greate enrollment announcements were carefully qualified announcements and how many were clearly legitimate.   I had 4 brave colleges that announced decreased enrollment last week Stories and commentary for August 25th: +  What does it mean w...

Here are the questions Dr. Azziz answered during the podcast  1. You are in the middle of a research project to determine the seating capacity of the entire higher education market.  Talk about that project. 2.  When we look at higher education, it is clear that there are too many colleges and too many colleges seats.  How did we get to this point? 3.  Is it fair to say that higher educationis is...