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. 

The Common Fund and College Endowments...several documents of interst

Within the history of higher education there are relatively few books or essays devoted to college endowments.  I've stumbled across a couple, Stanley King's History of the Endowment of Amherst College and Philanthropy in the History of American Higher Education by Jesse Brundage Sears.  I find this interesting given the focus on money in so many conversations involving higher education that Roger L. Geiger summed up in his essay, "The Era of Multipurpose Colleges in American Higher Education" when he noted that "Colleges apparently had only vague notions about their likely income and expenditures.   Given good intentions and congenital optimism, college overspent virtually every year..."  

Three interesting resources are available on the Common Fund web site that help fill part of the void.

You can find A Common Vision: Working in Partnership for the Benefit of All 1971-1996.  A 1993 Commonfund publication, The Growth of College Endowments 1960-1990 is available and there is a study of a single institution in the Case History: The Spelman College Endowment.

Philanthropy in the History of American Higher Education

I was recently fortunate to find a copy of Philanthropy in the History of American Higher Education by Jesse Brundage Sears with an introduction by Roger Geiger.  You can find copies in a variety of formats at the Internet Archive.  New copies of the book can still be acquired through the website of Transaction Publishers or you can find used copies.

History of the Endowment of Amherst College

Stanley King's History of the Endowment of Amherst College is available in a variety of formats through the Open Library.  The book provides a fascinating view of college finance and the role of endowments.

Given the importance of endowment support, it is interesting that there are relatively few books or even chapters in the histories of specific institutions that track the people and policies used to build and protect an endowment.  I am interested in hearing from you if you know of other similar works on college and university endowment history!!