More than 100 not-for-profit higher education institutions have closed between 2016 and 2023. Bain & Co. reports that there are nearly 300 institutions that are in precarious financial positions. They further project that the number will soon reach 495, exceeding the number before the pandemic hit.
Closures happen for many reasons but they generally involve declining student enrollment. The past decade has seen a near-steady decline in college enrollment. College enrollment has fallen by more than one million in the two years between spring 2020 and spring 2022 alone. In addition, colleges struggle to retain students or have low graduation rates.
These declines lead to diminishing tuition dollars, a main source of revenue for many colleges. A significant drop in student enrollment can strain a college's finances and make it difficult to cover operating expenses.
The ongoing confusion around student loan forgiveness is not helping either. Among those who attend college, nearly three-quarters take out a student loan. The same Propeller Insights survey reported that 48% of respondents say it will impact their interest in pursuing a college degree.
Colleges should prioritize digitization to attract and retain students – from offering online courses to giving students access to digital course materials.
44% of the respondents believe that physical textbooks will be completely phased out and replaced by digital textbooks.
Not only does tuition tend to be lower, but many additional expenses, such as transportation and course materials, are significantly lower in online programs. The same Propeller Insights survey found that 44% of the respondents believe that physical textbooks will be completely phased out and replaced by digital textbooks.
Some institutions have already taken action. In California, just 15 percent of college classes were fully remote before the pandemic. Now, 65 percent of classes are online. The Colorado Community College System is currently rolling out Colorado Online, a platform that will allow community college students across the state to take online courses at different institutions in the system.
At Northern Virginia Community College, online enrollment increased by more than 10% between 2021 and 2022. For the first time in the 42 years they have been offering online courses, students enrolled in an online course now make up more than a quarter of NVCC’s entire student population.
As colleges look to expand online programs, there is an increasing need to supply course materials quickly, flexibly and affordably.
Take for instance, South Piedmont Community College, where half of the student population are adult learners. In 2021, SPCC launched Learning Reimagined, a program that delivers courses in different modalities to meet the diverse needs of their student population. SPCC partnered with BibliU to ensure students’ course materials are affordable and accessible from anywhere, at any time.
Through BibliU’s Universal Learning, more than 9 out of 10 students at SPCC now access their course materials within days of the semester starting–an indicator of improved student outcomes and retention.
Propeller Insights is a full-service market research firm based in Los Angeles. Using quantitative and qualitative methodologies to measure and analyze marketplace and consumer opinions, they work extensively across industries such as travel, brand intelligence, entertainment/media, retail, and consumer packaged goods.
Propeller Insights strives to achieve statistically significant samples that meet the minimum industry standard of a 95 percent confidence level and a 5 percent margin of error, based on the population being represented for all online quantitative surveys. Propeller works with the leading online sample providers, and the sources they use are based on the project requirements/target, sample size, and incidence rate.
Qualitative surveys are based on the geographic relevance of the product or service being studied and target availability. Its moderators’ primary objective is to always spark meaningful conversation and draw out as much insight from each individual participant so that our clients are able to see as many perspectives as possible.
A Propeller omnibus survey has fixed audience sizes among the general population. For the purpose of this survey, respondents were between the ages of 18 and 24 years old. Results from August 2023.
BibliU partners with higher education institutions to provide tailored solutions that enhance affordability, accessibility, and operational efficiency. Through close collaboration, BibliU helps institutions achieve their specific goals.
Higher education institutions need actionable strategies to increase enrollment and improve accessibility for students in rural areas. This blog will outline key challenges faced by these students, while highlighting ways colleges can address these issues.
By Dave Sherwood, CEO and Co-Founder of BibliU. As college across the U.S. are shutting down at a rate of one per week, students, faculty, and communities face uncertainty. Dive into the causes behind these closures and explores solutions that can help colleges remain resilient.
