Fitch: Small Colleges Must Strengthen Student Pipelines Before Resources Are Sapped

Small colleges can boost their viability by strengthening their student pipelines, but they must make these moves before enrollment declines sap their reserves and other resources, according to a new report from Fitch Ratings. Certain types of initiatives — including tuition resets, scholarship aid and direct admissions — can attract students. But colleges must maintain fiscal balance while pursuing them. Moreover, “modest enrollment growth” may not be enough for colleges to recover from pandemic-related disruptions and demographic shifts. Smaller colleges in the Northeast and Midwest, for instance, face a shrinking pool of high school graduates as well as people moving away from the region.