Deteriorating Enrollment and Financial Situation Result in Closure of Dowling College

 

Adina Genn reported for the Long Island Business News today that Dowling College will close on June 3rd.  Dowling was founded in 1968 and the campus was centered on a former Vanderbilt estate.

The Chronicle of Higher Education also features an article by Emma Pettit, "Dowling College, Long in Financial Trouble will Close Friday."As both of these articles indicate, Dowling has been struggling to maintain enrollment and had been in financial difficulty for some time.  

Using a model publicized on The Sustainable University website, Dowling's financial situation was unsustainable and deteriorated in recent years.  Following calculation of ratios, two stars are placed on the chart.  The one in cell A2 reflects changes in Dowling's expense and equity ratios for the five year period from FY2004 through FY2008.  The star in the A3 in the upper right hand corner reflects changes in ratios from FY2011 through FY2015.

Data for the following table were pulled from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and certainly show the difficult situation  that led to the decision to close.  Expenses did not decline as rapidly as either enrollment or revenues over the period from FY2011 through FY2015.  

Thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments!