SoylentNews

c0lo writes:

Bloomberg reports:

Dozens of schools have seen drops of more than 10 percent in enrollment, according to Moody's. As faculty and staff have been cut and programs closed, some students have faced a choice between transferring or finishing degrees that may have diminished value.

The number of private four-year colleges that have closed or were acquired doubled from about five a year before 2008 to about 10 in the four years through 2011, according to a study last year by researchers at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, citing federal data.

Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen has predicted that as many as half of the more than 4,000 universities and colleges in the U.S. may fail in the next 15 years.

Soaring student debt, competition from online programs and poor job prospects for graduates are cited as the main causes.