FTE enrollment is up 400 students, so the 2022 enrollment crash has to be significant.
4 and 6-year graduation rates are strong at 56% and 73%, respectively.
Admission yield is a strong 30%
Their endowment is weak at $38M in 2020 and has been very flat over the past 6 years.
Quick analysis: The article suggests this is a bad confluence of events. I tend to agree. Rockhurst compares favorably to most colleges I review. What concerns me is the $40K to $10M jump. I think somebody at the top screwed something up. It’s possible the 2019 the acquisition of St. Lukes College of Nursing and Health Sciences induced some unanticipated costs that are just now showing up.
Rockhurst's current leadership is proposing adding sports and academic programs. The only guarantee for adding programs in the current higher education market is start-up costs. Net revenue is not guaranteed, in large part because so many other colleges are doing the same thing.
Rockhurst is one of those rare colleges in a position to merger with another regional private college. They would bring strong historical credentials and could leverage scale across many non-academic functions to better manage over costs.
It is also worthy to note that the university's top leadership has had recent attrition.
