Small colleges face challenges — and opportunities

Recent headlines haven’t been encouraging for small colleges and universities.

Moody’s Investor Service forecasts that closure rates for these institutions will triple in the coming years, and mergers will double, as schools face what Time magazine recently called the “Death Spiral” of declining admissions, tuition revenue and contributions.

Moody’s found that the percentage of small colleges with a sustained three-year growth rate of less than 2 percent increased fivefold, to 50 percent, from 2006 to 2014.