Most-clicked story of the week:
Syracuse University will undertake a review of its executive and administrative staff roles ahead of a projected budget deficit. Its chancellor likened the process — details of which are still being finalized — to the academic portfolio review the private New York institution completed earlier this year that resulted in 93 programs being slated for termination.
Number of the week: +$4 billion
The cost of the deferred maintenance backlog faced by Louisiana’s public colleges. A report from Gordian, a building intelligence firm, to the state’s board of regents found that eliminating the backlog and addressing forthcoming maintenance needs will take $777 million in annual capital spending over the next decade.
Undergraduate enrollment trends
- Preliminary data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows undergraduate enrollment inched up 0.6% year over year in fall 2026. While still a gain, the growth is significantly slower than the 2.4% annual increase seen in 2025. Graduate-level enrollment shrank by 1.6%, widening losses from last fall.
- In fall 2026, Michigan’s public universities saw the lowest overall enrollment in at least a decade after losing 5,223 students from the year before, according to preliminary data from the Michigan Association of State Universities. Just three of the 15 universities avoided a drop in fall enrollment.
- The share of Harvard University’s first-year cohort by Black and African American students has dropped by roughly half — from 18% to 9.3% — since the U.S. Supreme Court banned race-conscious admissions in 2023, according to data released by the Ivy League institution last week. Over that period, the share of Asian American students rose from 37% to 43.2%.
College closures, mergers and partnerships
- The University of Providence, in Montana, will close at the end of summer 2027, following “years of sustained enrollment decline and increasing financial pressure.” If it remained open, the Catholic nonprofit would face an $8 million annual budget gap moving forward and the challenge of getting off of accreditation probation.
- Pomona College and Claremont Graduate University finalized an agreement that will see the college become the university’s parent institution. The neighboring Southern California nonprofits said they expected the deal to close in June 2027, pending approval from regulators, accreditors and the educational consortium of which both institutions are members.
- The board of National Park College on Wednesday approved a merger proposal to join the University of Arkansas system. Wade Derden, president of the Arkansas community college, told trustees that the move would save the smaller institution millions in operating and technology costs, according to The Sentinel-Record. The university’s board is expected to vote on the proposal during its December meeting.
Quote of the week:
“For too long, accreditors have effectively served as a cartel to protect their interests, rather than the educational value that institutions of higher education are expected to deliver for students.”
Nicholas Kent
Under Secretary of Education
The U.S. Department of Education last week released the final version of its accreditation rule, setting up a significant overhaul of the longstanding process. Under the regulations, which take effect in July, accreditors will be required to consider colleges’ intellectual diversity policies and cannot enforce “illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion requirements” as defined by the Trump administration.
