This Week In College Viability (TWICV) for June 22, 2026

Gary Stocker (00:01.566)
It is Monday, June 22nd, 2026. Time for yet another podcast episode of This Week in College viability, news, and commentary. Hey everybody, Gary Stalker sitting in front of the blue Yeti microphone and the always running Riverside.fm podcast recording software. And this week is a shorter podcast. My wife, favorite wife of 47 years today.

And I went up to Estes Park for the weekend, about two and a half hours north of Colorado Springs. And and you know, you can't beat the mountain streams and scenic views. Plus, we had one angry elk for an anniversary weekend. So my usual weekend time to prepare the show was used up not preparing the show. So what do I have for you today? Well, standard stuff, new details, same stories, different details.

And because we talk about financial health, we talk about, I talk about college viability and and spin and where this industry is headed. I do it for college leaders, I do it for faculty, I do it for students and families, I do it for those interested in a different perspective on the higher education industry. Layoffs and cutbacks this week. I have a headline from Mass Live and the hard-working Juliet Schulman Hall. there's a Massachusetts Christian College, North Point Bible College.

Is going to end its degree programs after losing its accreditation. As I read the story, it's going to offer a one-year online certificate in theology and ministry plus some other things as well. I would anticipate some kind of college closure announcement at some point down the road. Page two. How about a specific closure? St. John's University of New York moves to close.

Chemistry programs amid falling enrollment. Crystal Vasquez had this story at Chemical and Engineering News. I track I track all the journals at Chemical and Engineering News on June 18th. And it says her story has a subheading that school joins several others that have considered eliminating their chemistry degrees as more students turn to other majors like biochemistry. She writes, here's how the story was broken. In some cases,

Gary Stocker (02:23.43)
At St. John's University, it was the students, it was the students who ended up breaking the news to the professors that some chemistry programs were going away. And one is reported that a Joseph Serafin, a chemistry professor, was saying I was in class and my phone started blowing up with texts asking what's going on with our program. Said Joseph Serafin, a chemistry professor, we found out almost simultaneously.

with students another fine communication system at a c at a college in this country, not being able to share bad news with any kind of skill whatsoever. incoming freshmen, incoming chemistry freshmen were told that the program they applied to is one of those being discontinued at St. John's and they will have or be able to continue, which is fair. And most colleges do that. But St. John's is no longer going to offer that. And

the there's a story from the National Student Clearinghouse Research referenced in Ms. Vesquet's story. And it notes that undergraduate enrollment in biology, I'm changing topics a little bit here, in biology fell around three percent between 2019 and 2024. In and in contrast, undergraduate chemistry fell about 23%, about seven times more in that same period. And and I remember keeping keeping in mind I'm a medical laboratory scientist

By training, that was my bachelor's degree a long time ago. And I took chem one in the labs, and I took chem two in the labs. I took biochemistry, and probably the best class I took throughout college was organic chemistry. Difficult, but boy, it tells you how life works. And so as a result, mm several cools, several colleges have decided to discontinue their chemistry majors or in Wilson College, University of Akron, among others. I have announced that.

The speculation in the story is that some of biochemistry's popularity, biochemistry's popularity over chemistry might be because it's a good option for pre-med students. Well, okay, I always thought chem 1 and chem 2 were usually important to being able to understand biochemistry, but all right, that's what's in the story. Let's move on to New Jersey, where eight colleges are in serious financial trouble. This is from Liz Rosenberg at in at new jersey.com or nj.com.

Gary Stocker (04:47.746)
And this comes from the Forbes report a couple weeks ago. They did their 2026 financial grades for private colleges. These are the colleges in public, excuse me, these are the private colleges in New Jersey that got a D as in dog. I don't think any of them have issued public rebuttals yet. They are Pillar College, P-I-L-L-A-R, St. Elizabeth's University, Centenary University, St. Elizabeth's University, Caldwell University, Drew University, Ryder University,

And Felician University. And last week I think I've got a story coming up here about one college protesting the numbers, but I'm not really reporting on those colleges to say, look at us. We got A's or B's. And in some cases, they're reporting C's. And it's it's it's fascinating. You know, I've got to have had a handful of colleges on the show. And sometimes on social media, when they don't like the D, they complain about the methodology. But when you get an A or a B, you don't complain about the methodology at all. Take it for what it's worth.

Wheeling University, West Virginia, reports positive financial progress to the Higher Education Policy Commission. Jack Carlson had this story in West Virginia Metro News. Here's what he writes. West Virginia, excuse me, Wheeling University reports progress with its finances as it continues to recover from a tumultuous period. Several years ago, the school drew the ire of both U.S. Department of Education and the Higher Learning Commission.

After having trouble paying its bills, they fired the president, replaced her, or somebody else. Wheeling University Board Chairman David Hendrickson addressed the Higher Education Policy Commission during its Friday meeting. I think this is a New Jersey, sorry, West Virginia entity, and said the university was up for provisional reauthorization from this policy commission, an annual approval of that from the commission to continue operations. Okay.

The board approved the authorization after Hendrickin's update that the college can continue. Not always a good storyline. So, all right. Issues with the US Department of Education and the Higher Learning Commission are in and of itself, the issues are not a positive development, though both, as I have shared many times, are reluctant and slow and even hesitant to enforce financial health parameters with anything close.

Gary Stocker (07:13.4)
To timeliness, but let's just look at the data because that's what I do. Wheeling University had a D's in dog at Forbes. And remember, Forbes doesn't give F's, they give D's as the lowest. There were 27% of all 900 plus private colleges looked at. 27%, 27 out of every 100 had a D. Don't tell me I'm wrong about this industry being in trouble.

Total net assets at Wheeling are only 6.5 million. This is from 2025. Also, its value, it's URN, I'm sorry, it's unrestricted net assets, are hovering only around $3 million, really low. The UNAP, which is the value, one of the tools reported in Forbes, has been negative for the last five years. That's not a good thing. Enrollment has inched up. Enrollment has inched up, but student revenues have inched down.

So they're not being able to charge the tuition they need, even though they've been able to bump their enrollment up a little bit. And their endowment in 2025 is just $3.3 million. You know what I'm going to call that? That's not even college couch money. If you're considering wheeling university, be careful. Ask lots of questions. You can get their financial health status and questions ask them at my college viability, my college viability.

onelongword.com. And before I move on to page three, there are two other podcasts, and I've talked about them before. I do Kitchen Table College Chat with Mark Debore. It is kind of a perspective piece. Different things along the lines of not just college finances, but enrollment and FAFSA and graduation rates. And we talked about AI for high school students a couple weeks ago. And then I have another one called Beyond

The college brochure, and it does just that. It's it really includes Paul Harvey, for those of you that don't know that radio name from decades ago. Paul Harvey likes stories about colleges and started actually with a college student interviewing me about the college decision process. So Kitchen Table College Chats and Beyond the College Brochure are two additional podcasts that I do each week, along with this one. And I also do the College Financial Health Show with Matt Hendricks every Tuesday. Page three. All right.

Gary Stocker (09:35.884)
This is the whining story. Mildred Milden, M-I-H-L-O-N, president at Felician University. I've got the website address in the story, and I will link that in the show notes. Here's what she says about her colleges, Forbes, D as and dog. And remember they don't give F's at Forbes. While the ranking may raise questions, it is important to recognize that Forbes' analysis does not fully reflect the overall strength or

trajectory of our university. Notably, 27% of institutions, I shared that, included in this report, received the same grades. So I guess that we're no worse than anybody else. Maybe they'll put that on their business cards or on the front entry. Which suggests limitations. I that's silly. 27% suggest limitations in the methodology. Are you kidding me, Dr. Milan? Are you kidding me?

It's it's numbers. It doesn't say what her background is. It's numbers, it's data. It's a trend. It's a pattern.

Gary Stocker (10:46.616)
There were so if the 27% with D, that means there were 73% that didn't get a D. Is that an issue also? Just silly how these colleges will spin this without any logic whatsoever. She says the Forbes framework relies heavily on traditional financial indicators. Yeah, like expenses and revenue and endowments and percent draws and enrollment and student and fee revenue. goodness.

While these metrics, she goes on, offer one perspective indeed. They present a narrow view of institutional health and do not adequately account for differences in mission, student population, or strategic priorities. Spin, spin, spin, spin, spin. And she goes on to talk about Felician University being deeply committed to access, affordability, and upward mobility. Fine. That's fine. Do keep in mind though, I didn't check this.

Access and success are not the same thing.

She goes on to conclude, our model prioritizes reinvestment in our students through financial aid, academic support, and career focused programming. That's fine. Rather than accumulation accumulation of wealth, that's a shot at other colleges. And that approach is delivering meaningful results. Enrollment has increased by 22% over the past three years while maintaining the student profile. I have no idea what that means. And our graduates continue to demonstrate strong career outcomes. Any chance you could actually tell us what those outcomes are?

So Man Hendricks and Prospective Data Sciences Financial Compass 15 Key Measures. Nine of the fifteen measures are concerning at Felician. Of particular concern, the value of the college UNAP turn negative. The value of the college is negative based on numbers. If you don't like numbers, okay. Find some other measure.

Gary Stocker (12:47.894)
And the endowment, the end of your endowment in 2025 is not even 20 million, giving the college little room for unexpected events or bad decisions or macroeconomic changes in higher education or just general economic trends in our country. And I understand a self-fulfilling prophecy. If if the if the good doctor came on and said, Yeah, we're in trouble, come folks will see that. But this isn't much better. And that's why I'm here to offer.

A perspective that you might not normally catch on your own. This college is in financial trouble. Like twenty seven percent of others listed in the Forbes report. If you don't like the numbers, not even making up her own.

Just, just I can't even begin to count the number of Jeeshes I want to throw at this one. And so, you know, as as I guess for the wrap this week.

Gary Stocker (13:46.678)
As I've shared many times, financial transparency is just not a thing. We just heard that. We just saw that. Financial transparency is just not a thing for colleges. Spinning both good and bad financial data and enrollment data and graduation rate data is just baked into the higher education's communication mindset.

The main reason I'm here is to give you an unbiased perspective. I talked about the other podcasts that I do to help convey the messages that colleges choose not to convey. And even our series of apps are slowly, too slowly, and but surely impacting how colleges have to react. Because we're challenging them. How they have to react to public presentation and unbiased analysis, like I do, like Mike, like Matt Hendricks does and like others do.

Our college viability inspection report, free for the data piece, is now getting between about 100 and 200 hits per day to the site, with occasional spikes that are much higher. And and I will I watch that, of course, and I'll keep you informed as those numbers change in the coming weeks and months. And I I guess really to wrap this up, I had a I had a professional friend ask me late last week to draft a piece, an article, a blog, I'm not sure what sure it'll actually end up being.

To draft a piece on the role of faculty in higher education in the coming years. I haven't written it yet, but I can tell you what it'll say. I can tell you what it will say. It will say in general, faculty are so hesitant to engage in changing their comfortable roles in higher education.

That it will require that there will be cataclysmic set of closures and program cuts and layoffs that will force needed business change in spite of constant and chronic faculty protests.

Gary Stocker (15:50.498)
And that's why every time, and I see this way too much. That's why every time I see a new higher education cookbook, here's how to fix things, here's how to make things better, I only quickly glance at it. Here's why. Changing the higher education recipe by adding or deleting a few degrees on the t on the oven or changing the amount of flour in the recipe is not gonna save this industry.

Not going to save this industry from massive changes that economics will. And I will share in that piece that it that the economic and business realities will force changes that faculty otherwise simply won't do. That's what the piece will include. With a lot more words. See you next Monday at 47 Years Plus One Week. Thanks as always for listening. Gary Stokker at College Viability. I'll be back.

Next week.