Will Your College Go Out of Business Before You Graduate?

One reason for new buildings on college campuses is that donors and the government are much more willing to give funds for that purpose than they are for salaries and benefits, which make up the bulk of most college budgets. So, I understand your frustration if you're angry about tuition rising while your college is erecting a new building every three years, but those are usually two separate piles of money, and there's not much your college can do to change that.<p>That said, I still flinch every time I hear about a new building on our campus. I'm increasingly uncomfortable with the perception that colleges are living large while tuition rates climb, and I feel we should be more conspicuously frugal to combat it.

I love this quote: "Going to a 4 year school is supposed to be the foundation from which you create a future, not the transaction that crushes everything you had hoped to do because you have more debt than you could possibly pay off in 10 years."<p>I hosted a coursera meetup recently (<a href="http://www.meetup.com/Coursera/Boston-MA/829362/" rel="nofollow">http://www.meetup.com/Coursera/Boston-MA/829362/</a>) and I met two students who were enrolled as part time off-campus students, taking the required minimum of classes at the university, and only "spending" those classes on requirements for their majors. All of their enrichment beyond the major was through MOOCs like Coursera. They told me it would take 6 years instead of four, but cost way less, and the preferred the MOOCs for the advanced material anyway. The last piece of the puzzle for them was finding internships, so they could lay the groundwork for a job upon graduating.<p>Compared to my "find yourself" traipse through college, I was blown away by the steel-trap optimization these guys were applying to school. This economic downturn is breeding a whole generation of just-try-to-stop-me kids. It will be awesome 25 years from now when they are in charge.

I graduated a little over a year ago and am now faced with at least $50k in debt (not accounting for interest). The school I attended was a state university and sadly, the education I received may have amounted to ~$20k. I say this because the majority of my instructors were recent hires out of the university's own graduate programs and (IMHO) lacked the experience to teach certain topics.<p>The remaining cost I assume, was for "campus enhancements" like swapping out printed cafeteria menus with flat screen tv's (you must understand, this was an eco friendly initiative).<p>Universities are a trap. The future they're selling kids is non-existent and they know it. Instead of uni-hopping, students should start picking up topics/trades of interest early, studying on nights and weekends leading up to their hs graduation. The obvious suggestion is learn code, but it could include a lot more. Don't send your kids to school. Be proactive and find out what they're interested in early and nurture it. It may rob them partially of a childhood, but at least their adulthood won't be a depressing, seemingly pointless adventure.

I was honestly expecting a different sort of rant from Mark Cuban. It's nice to see someone taking on the <i>business</i> of college, without dismissing the need for a <i>college education</i>. Bravo to someone who gets it.<p>That said, while I agree with his premise, I'll admit to being a little sad about the consequences: people in power rarely talk about it, but the kids who go to the "name schools" have a huge career advantage over the kids who go to Podunk University. I should know -- I went to a tiny school, and somehow managed to end up in silicon valley, where the leaders and power brokers are (wait for it)...almost exclusively graduates of the Ivy League. And this isn't the only industry where that's true.<p>It's disheartening. A hard-working, smart graduate from Oklahoma State with a degree in computer science degree will be at a <i>substantial disadvantage</i> when it comes to getting the best jobs -- the big boys (Google, Facebook, etc.) might send a recruiter to the campus career fair once a year, but they aren't hosting hackathons, sponsoring scholarships, or setting up permanent shop in the career center, like they'll do for Stanford or Berkeley or MIT. And when it comes time to reach for the management fast-track, those Ivy contacts go a long way.<p>So, who wins when the ability to pay for college out-of-pocket determines the economic winners and losers? Not the poor. We're rapidly heading to a country with a rigid and unyielding class structure, thanks to the brutal realities of unfettered market capitalism.

It's already starting.<p><a href="http://www.cva.edu/" rel="nofollow">http://www.cva.edu/</a> This college in St Paul last year just got some art accreditation that purportedly takes into account future financial viability. They just announced they can't remain financially solvent. So much for accreditation.<p>At this point I think education will have a rather interesting next few years.

Typically when this happens another college or set of colleges will step up to take the students. This occurred in the case of Parsons College (whose campus is interestingly now the Maharishi University of Management) and Antioch College.<p>More aggressively another college might take over the failed institution, as in the case of Compton College's failure in 1995. El Camino College not only accepted Compton's students but took over the facilities and faculty as well.

I believe every college maintains a backup fund to make sure that the college can survive at least 5-10 years if all else fails.<p>In such a scenario, the school would prioritize using the money to make sure that current students can graduate and that their degree is worth something for at least a couple years.<p>EDIT: That was poorly worded. I meant to say that the fund is meant as a buffer to help the school avoid shutting down, so that they have time to get their act together. But it also helps guarantee that their degrees will be worth something for at least a few years, so that students feel safe continuing at the school and so recent graduates are not screwed over by something that wasn't their fault. I'm not sure, but this might even be an accreditation requirement.

"Why in the world are schools building new buildings? What is required in a business school classroom that is any different than the classroom for psychology or sociology or english or any other number of classes?"<p>This question is easy to answer. In a time of declining public funds universities are trying to attract students, because tuition is about the only funding source left. Consequently, universities have to look appealing to students, and that means cushy dorms, spiffy libraries, the lot.<p>Again: these are investments made from the general fund, and the university tries to recover these through increased tuition income. A classic market failure.

Many top 100 universities are gleaming with dozens of new buildings:<p><pre><code> - Stanford tore down some donated admin buildings across from Schwab GSB that were not even 10 years old. A good portion of the med school is being gradually torn down and rebuilt near the hospital. (Will the roads ever be back to normal two-way traffic?) - Davis is littered with new buildings. - Harvard's 10 year construction schedule and $30,000,000,000.00+ under HMC. </code></pre> Probably a safer bet. Whether funds begged from donors and liquidated from students are utilized efficiently is another matter.

I would still generally be comfortable with 250k in debt to get a Stanford or Harvard degree, provided I wanted to work in a field where that credential would be a huge benefit.<p>The better deal is probably to ROTC, though. Especially since the military is downsizing, you could comfortably spend your service commitment doing interesting stuff and then leave debt free and with great experience. USAF or USN, obviously. It also seems like an excellent way to do medical school if that is your goal, too.

A lot of misinformation in these comments centers around the fact that many universities constructed new buildings from 2008-2012 as construction costs were low due to the high levels of under and unemployed in the construction sector. This factor combined with poor expected returns to their endowments made it appear wise to make capital investments. Whether this was a good or bad idea won't be realized for many years.

As much as online degree may be the future, this is really out of touch. An online degree is still considered absolutely useless in academia, law, and medicine. Literally none of the students currently graduating in the top 5% of their classes will pursue an online degree as opposed to a traditional school.

The college I went to, nearly went out of business several times. I think now, attendance is rising as people who're out of work are going back to school. I have two jobs for now, but I'm thinking of quitting one and going back to school myself.<p>Although it's awkward majoring in something that has nothing to do with your current line of work.<p>What's really annyoing is that no one asks for your GPA (well at least, they didn't ask me) no matter where I applied; just the school and what courses I took. The more I see people who don't have a college degree getting things done, the more I feel college, while you do learn, is still a scam as far as jobs are concerned. And I'd rather learn for the sake of learning than learn just to get a job.

List of Colleges and Universities that have Closed, Merged, or Changed their Names<p><a href="http://www2.westminster-mo.edu/wc_users/homepages/staff/brownr/closedcollegeindex.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www2.westminster-mo.edu/wc_users/homepages/staff/brow...</a>

I'm not saying this is what you <i>should</i> do, but it's probably what I would do if my college went under:<p>Put on my resume that I graduated. From a school that was good, not the shitty one that went out of business.<p>Actually, as someone who didn't graduate, I find that just not mentioning whether or not I graduated works fine. I just say 'University of X, 200X - 200X, Mathematics' on my resume. At this point in my career it doesn't matter, and back when it might have mattered almost nobody has the balls to say to you "I see that you attended University of X for n years, did you graduate?".

In order to stay afloat how many larger universities will no longer allow transfer credits to prevent people going to cheaper schools for gen Eds?

I was just thinking about this recently. Our generation is so fucked. Tuition rising, fewer jobs, recession, social security not going to be there when we get older, the first true tax increase for every American (payroll tax, we all felt it to the tune of 2% on our first paycheck of January) since the mid-90s, and now the retiring generation is saying "Welp! It's up to you to fix it! Good luck!" Assholes.

does anyone know where to look to find out how much debt a college has or what their financials are?