Small colleges in peril

Editorial by Greensboro News-Record, December 15, 2013.

Greensboro College had a lot to celebrate last week. After five years of financial struggle — and two years on probation with its accrediting body — the private college returned to the full good graces of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Bennett College, meanwhile, is facing a new round of financial difficulty. The private women’s college said it is laying off nine employees and closing a dorm to help it close a $2.9 million gap in its budget.

It’s tough out there these days for private colleges. As the Inside Higher Ed website reported last week, small and mid-sized colleges with small endowments that survived the recession are continuing to struggle. They cost as much as — and usually more than — public universities. They’re competing with for-profit and online universities for a shrinking number of high school graduates. College loans are harder to get, and North Carolina colleges recently ended a program that paid an $1,850 annual tuition grant — regardless of financial need — to every state resident enrolled in a private North Carolina college.

The Inside Higher Ed story highlighted the troubles at private colleges across the country. Two from North Carolina made the list: Johnson C. Smith, which laid off 21 this fall after enrollment dropped by 400; and Montreat College, which said this summer it will merge with a Georgia college.

North Carolina is blessed with some top-notch private colleges. Duke and Wake Forest are two of the top private universities in the nation. Davidson, Elon and High Point are thriving.

But smaller colleges with smaller endowments face choppier financial waters. Because they depend more on tuition dollars than their larger, wealthier neighbors, they have less cushion if enrollment dips.

Guilford College laid off employees in 2012 when it anticipated a decline in enrollment. The college lost about 150 students this fall but said it plans to reduce its capital budget to cover a projected deficit of $350,000.

Tiny Bennett College has been on probation for financial issues twice since 2001. In each of the last two years, the college has turned to its alumnae to close fiscal year-end budget deficits. This fall, Bennett enrollment dropped by 50 students — 7.5 percent — and the college has responded by curtailing expenses. That’s certainly bad news, but it’s encouraging to see new President Rosalind Fuse-Hall try to get out in front of problems rather than having to make a desperate plea for money in the spring.

Greensboro College, meanwhile, dug deep to restore fiscal stability. It laid off employees, cut salaries and sold its off-campus holdings, including a motel-turned-dorm and the old J.C. Price School site, where the college once hoped to build a football stadium. Now the 175-year-old school wants to improve its campus and revamp its academic programs. Both will be positive changes.

Greensboro, Guilford and Bennett complement the city’s two large state universities with their intimate settings, small classes and focus on undergraduate education. Small private colleges like these are worth preserving — and celebrating.