Quincy News: Massachusetts Considers Stress Testing Finances of Private Colleges

Suddenly closed college
An Esteban Bustillos/WGBH image
– News covered by Quincy Quarry News with commentary added.

Massachusetts considers stress testing the financial well-being of private colleges in the Commonwealth.

The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education proposal comes after the sudden closure of Mount Ida College in Newton last year.

The board’s report, drafted by a working group of the board, finds an “ongoing and likely growing threat that more Massachusetts non-profit colleges will be forced by their financial conditions to merge or close.”

Adrift at Quincy College?
A Quincy College Facebook photo
Of local concern, it is unknown at this point if the City of Quincy’s troubled municipally owned and operated Quincy College would also be subject to review should the proposed stress testing be implemented.

Notes the board’s report, “(s)hifting fundamentals including on demographics, competition and costs have created significant financial viability risk for some private, non-profit colleges in Massachusetts and have led to closures so abrupt as to injure students and families and undermine the credibility of higher education.”

Not the future of higher education
A Trump University© image
The report recommends the state look at a school’s enrollment, revenue and debt to determine whether it has the resources to keep its doors open for at least 18 months.

Massachusetts has dozens of small colleges and an abrupt closure can leave students, faculty and staff in the lurch.

Student Moving Day in Allston
A John Tlumacki/Boston Globe image
As such, the report also recommends vulnerable schools develop contingency plans to teach out or transfer students before things hit the fan.

The board is scheduled to meet to take up these recommendations today.

Needless to say, at least some college leaders and their lobbyists are expected to challenge the report’s recommendations.