University President argues that Smart Money is Betting on the Future of Higher Education

Scott Jaschek describes the challenge of Alfred University president Mark Zupan's to Clayton Christensen's claim that "...as many as half of American nonprofit private colleges would close within 10 to 15 years..." for Inside Higher Ed, "Will Clay Christensen Put His Money Where His Mouth Is?"

Jaschek includes a link to Zupan's article from The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, "Betting on (Non-Profit) Higher Education," where he highlights fundamental strengths of higher education institutions and provides an argument for a more positive future.

It is also useful to reflect on the number of non-profit closures since Christensen made his claim in 2011.  There have been a couple of recent closure announcements and a lot of articles in the press.  Yet, annual closures have been declining in recent years.  And, while we can argue about whether this downward trend will continue through 2019 or not, I'd argue that the pattern supports Zupan's view that we need not get overly concerned with predictions that many institutions are doomed.

I would also encourage those who have not already done so, to read Timothy Burke's (professor of history at Swarthmore) interesting reflections in "College of Theseus," on his Easily Distracted blog.  Burke offers details for several of the recent closures to argue that care is needed before jumping to conclusions about the health of higher education.  You can find a link to Burke's article in an earlier College History Garden post...along with a link to the data source for the above chart.