US Colleges are closing at an alarming rate: List of public and private school closures

A troubling trend facing higher education institutions is fiscal insolvency, which is forcing many public and private colleges and universities to permanently close their doors to students. Earlier this month, Best Colleges reported that since March 2020, 62 public and non-profit institutions of higher learning have closed, announced they will close, or merged with another entity. While the pace may be increasing, the closures are part of a longer trend in higher education.

The State Higher Education Executives Officers Association (SHEEO) released a report in 2023 that noted that between 2004 and 2017, “the number of postsecondary institutional closures steadily increased.” Best Colleges notes in their reporting that before 2020, most schools that faced closures were for-profit entities and that now more public and non-profit institutions are feeling financial pain that they cannot resolve as they face declining student enrollment.

However, these numbers began to fall after peeking in 2016, when 1,165 branch campus closures were recorded. Though these were not all categorized as institutional closures, branch closures provide an indication of how schools are scaling or reducing their size to meet student demand. As population growth has slowed, the number of students has subsequently fallen, and combined with increasing costs in a more competitive market, more institutions have closed their doors. While the trend began to reverse, the SHEEO experts expect “the financial and enrollment challenges wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic and broader demographic shifts may result in enrollment declines, financial challenges, and another steady increase in institutional consolidations or closures in the coming years.”

How many major closures, mergers, or splits have occurred so far this year?

This year alone, 22 schools have announced mergers or closures, and Best Colleges is already tracking four that will take place in 2025. The 23 figure tracked so far this year, is greater than all the closures included on the college-focused web outlet’s 2023 list.

The largest institution on the list, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, had 27,000 students, and rather than closing, it will be divided into two institutions. This was also the only university on the list that was public, all the others were private; only However, none of the other institutions on the list had a student population of 2,800, and many had enrollment levels under 500.

With fifty-two weeks in a year, the total number scheduled to close or merge amounts to nearly one a week or a little more than three a month.

Best Colleges notes in their reporting that before 2020, most schools that faced closures were for-profit entities and that now more public and non-profit institutions are feeling financial pain that they cannot resolve as they face declining student enrollment.