No sooner had I read the Atlantic’s new article ‘The Looming College-enrollment Death Spiral’ than a message popped up on my screen via the BBJ: ‘Financial crisis forces Hampshire College to shutter.’ … And more closures are on the way, possibly (though hopefully not) Anna Maria College (WBUR). The demographics for small regional colleges are just brutal these days, particularly those in the Northeast and Midwest, as the Atlantic reports.

Fyi: The Atlantic references this 2024 paper from the Federal Reserve, titled ‘Predicting College Closures and Financial Distress.’ Things have only gotten worse since its release.

Fyi II: I included the following WSJ article (“The Small Private Colleges Dying in a Winner-Take-All University Marketplace”) in last Friday’s Headlines of Interest. Vermont’s St. Michael’s is yet another endangered regional college.

Fyi III: Here’s a web site that tracks college closures.