Finance
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S&P: Despite enrollment gains, margins have worsened at colleges
The credit ratings agency found increases in median headcounts across colleges it rates, but also weakening operating margins in fiscal 2025.
By Ben Unglesbee • July 15, 2026 -
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Penn State, Temple and Pitt get boost from new performance-based funding
A new $10 million pool of performance-based funds adds money to long-stagnant appropriations but falls short of higher education leaders’ hopes.
By Ben Unglesbee • July 15, 2026 -
Explore the Trendline➔
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TrendlineCampus Facilities
Physical security measures, renovation backlogs, sustainability and financing all come into play when the spotlight turns to college and university campuses.
By Higher Ed Dive staff -
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University of Nebraska System braces for unexpected $36M state funding cut
“There are limits to what can be achieved through continued reductions,” the system’s president said as ever-deepening austerity measures loom.
By Ben Unglesbee • July 13, 2026 -
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Temple University lays off 40 employees as it tackles deficit
The public Philadelphia institution is reducing its workforce for the second year in a row but has seen promising enrollment gains of late.
By Ben Unglesbee • July 10, 2026 -
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Moody’s downgrades Brown University’s outlook to negative
The credit ratings agency primarily cited the Ivy League institution’s “already thin operating performance” that could continue for several years.
By Natalie Schwartz • July 7, 2026 -
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Column // College Closure FilesBehind Northland’s closure — and the bid to keep its mission alive
The college transformed in the 1970s into an ecologically minded liberal arts institution. Now former faculty want to sustain that ethos in a smaller version.
By Ben Unglesbee • July 6, 2026 -
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Johns Hopkins lays off 110 employees in the wake of federal research cuts
"As our federal research portfolio shrinks, the infrastructure around it must change in parallel,” a spokesperson for the private university said.
By Ben Unglesbee • June 26, 2026 -
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Private colleges grew revenue last year — but not by enough, Fitch says
Costs, competition and ‘adversarial federal policy’ are weighing heavily on private colleges, according to analysts with the credit ratings agency.
By Ben Unglesbee • June 24, 2026 -
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UConn expands budget-tightening measures to close $83.5M deficit
The flagship plans to adjust contracts and restrict hiring as it grapples with rising costs, declines in federal research funding and other challenges.
By Ben Unglesbee • June 22, 2026 -
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Sponsored by Strayer UniversityMeeting the modern student where they are: How Strayer is advancing creative and technology innovation
From screen scoring to cybersecurity, Strayer University rewrites the rules of higher education.
June 22, 2026 -
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Southern Oregon University plan would cut 3 majors, roughly 66 jobs
The new proposal comes after the public institution carried out two recent rounds of workforce cuts and declared financial exigency last year.
By Natalie Schwartz • June 18, 2026 -
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Northpoint Bible College ends degree programs after losing accreditation
The Massachusetts institution is going forward with a new name and three-year programs that its president said will transfer for credit to partner institutions.
By Ben Unglesbee • June 17, 2026 -
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Kentucky State gets OK for program cuts amid state-mandated overhaul
The state’s higher education authority signed off on the narrowed offerings even as a lawsuit contests the university’s transformation.
By Ben Unglesbee • June 15, 2026 -
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A ‘new normal’: Syracuse faces enrollment dip, first deficit in years
The New York institution has so far dodged many of its peers’ woes. But demographic shifts and enrollment declines are weighing on its finances.
By Ben Unglesbee • June 12, 2026 -
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Marshall University to cut 7 programs, expand others
The public West Virginia institution’s tweaks to its offerings follow a state-mandated review and come amid an effort to shrink its deficit.
By Ben Unglesbee • June 12, 2026 -
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University of Denver to consolidate academic structures, cut departments
Despite budget pressures, officials framed the moves as an effort to eliminate silos and improve the student experience.
By Ben Unglesbee • June 11, 2026 -
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The New School AAUP slams faculty layoffs
The faculty group disputed what administrators describe as a need to shrink and restructure the institution to meet a new enrollment reality.
By Ben Unglesbee • June 10, 2026 -
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University of Maryland lays off 84 employees amid budget pressures
The public institution is facing federal and state funding cuts in addition to higher energy costs and slowing endowment returns.
By Ben Unglesbee • June 5, 2026 -
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Kent State, Colorado State and other universities turn to budget cuts
Institutions from Maryland to Oregon announced plans last month to trim spending, and sometimes eliminate jobs, as they navigate or stave off deficits.
By Ben Unglesbee • June 5, 2026 -
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Hampshire College may close earlier than planned
The private Massachusetts institution’s revenue projections are coming up short, meaning it might not be able to teach its final term planned for the fall.
By Ben Unglesbee • June 1, 2026 -
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Tuition discount rate reaches 57% for private nonprofits, NACUBO says
Price cuts are getting even deeper for first-year undergraduates, while net tuition revenue has fallen, according to the organization.
By Ben Unglesbee • June 1, 2026 -
Western Michigan University launches buyout program to ease budget
The public institution is offering early retirements to tenured faculty, as long as enough sign up to save at least $5 million.
By Ben Unglesbee • May 29, 2026 -
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Florida budget deal would cut extra funding to top public universities
Lawmakers also agreed to transfer the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus to New College of Florida, a conservative favorite.
By Ben Unglesbee • May 27, 2026 -
SUNY Fredonia cutting 14 degrees, 7 minors
The public institution is still trying to close a multimillion-dollar deficit after years of enrollment declines.
By Ben Unglesbee • May 26, 2026 -
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TrackerHere’s a list of the biggest donations to colleges in 2026 so far
Drexel University landed a $112.6 million from a trustee and his family to expand the university’s engineering and computer science college.
Updated June 11, 2026
