College enrollment is decreasing — the result of declining birthrates and concerns among parents that the financial investment in college isn’t worth it — and fewer students means fewer tuition dollars coming in. As colleges struggle to pay their bills, some ultimately close.
The numbers are staggering: Nearly 300 colleges and universities offering an associate degree or higher closed between 2008 and 2023. More than 60 percent of those were run by for-profit operators.
The Hechinger Report created this page to track this seismic shift in higher education. The data, provided by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, will be updated periodically.
Credit: Federal Student Aid Office, and Rachel Burns, senior policy analyst, State Higher Education Executive Officers Association
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