Tracking College Closures and Mergers

Across the country, colleges are increasingly shuttering as enrollment continues to decline due to natural population trends and higher operating costs.

At the end of 2024, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia developed a model to predict college closures, estimating that up to 80 colleges could close next year due to financial distress following a worst-case-scenario drop in enrollment.^[2]

For-profit colleges once drove closure rates. However, in the past five years, private nonprofits have outpaced for-profit schools in this alarming trend.

BestColleges has been tracking major nonprofit college closures and mergers since 2020.

According to data collected by the State Higher Education Executive Office (SHEEO) and made publicly available by The Hechinger Report, approximately 312 colleges and universities granting at least associate degrees closed from 2008-2024.^[1]

From 2012-2019, for-profit colleges closed at a far higher rate than nonprofits. Since the Obama Administration, the government has monitored these colleges to ensure their value to students. Specifically, the Obama Administration ruled “gainful employment” for colleges, meaning colleges must prove the value of their degrees. The decision heavily impacted for-profit institutions.

The Trump Administration shed “gainful employment” requirements before the Biden Administration reverted to Obama’s ruling. Biden also tightened the leash on for-profits by closing a loophole that enabled many schools to skirt certain funding rules by aggressively recruiting veterans and service members.

During Trump’s second presidency, those restrictions on for-profits could loosen again.

Now, private nonprofit schools are suffering from the predicted enrollment cliff and high operating costs, while for-profits are slowly disappearing from the scene. The former for-profit giant University of Phoenix was recently acquired by the nonprofit University of Idaho, for example.^[3]

In a December 2024 report, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that fiscal challenges and an enrollment cliff are the strongest predictors of a college’s closure.

The researchers studied two worst-case scenarios that could impact colleges. In the scenario of an abrupt and massive enrollment drop, 80 colleges could close, impacting over 100,000 students and 20,000 staff. If enrollment drops gradually over the next five years, an average of 4.6 colleges could close annually, impacting over 7,300 students and 1,200 staff each year.^[2]

BestColleges began tracking nonprofit college and university closures and mergers, dating back to March 2020, around the time the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated economic challenges in nearly every industry, including higher education.

Since March 2020:

The table below lists nonprofit college closures and a reason for each, including one of the following categories:

The table also lists colleges that have merged, naming the college or university they merged into in the “reasons” column.

According to SHEEO and the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, just 47% of students who experienced a college closure between 2004-2020 re-enrolled in another program. Students who experienced an abrupt closure had lower re-enrollment rates than students who experienced an orderly closure (40% vs. 64%).^[5]

Not completing a college degree program could affect the likelihood of defaulting on a student loan. If you are a student, there are steps you can take if your college closes, like finishing your program at another school or possibly getting a discharge for federal student loans.