In 2005 Adrian College was home to 840 enrolled students and had a tuition income of $8.54 million. By fall of 2011, enrollment had soared to 1,688, and tuition income had increased to $20.45 million. For the first time in years, the small liberal arts college was financially viable. Adrian College experienced this remarkable growth during the worst American economy in seventy years and in a state ravaged by the decline of the big three auto companies. How, exactly, did this turnaround happen? Crisis in Higher Education: A Plan to Save Small Liberal Arts Colleges in America was written to facilitate replication and generalization of Adrian College’s tremendous enrollment growth and retention success since 2005. This book directly addresses the economic competitiveness of small four-year institutions of higher education and presents an evidence-based solution to the enrollment and economic crises faced by many small liberal arts colleges throughout the country.

Disinvestment by states has driven up tuition prices, and student debt has reached an all-time high. Americans are questioning the worth of a college education, even as studies show how important it is to economic and social mobility

Not since student turmoil and unrest wreaked havoc on the nation's campuses three decades ago has American higher education been the subject of so much controversy and popular criticism. Countless indictments compete for the public's attention as critics explore vital issues confronting today's institutions of higher learning: curricular fragmentation, declining academic standards, the apparent erosion of liberal learning within academe, widespread neglect of undergraduate education in favour of academic research and unprecedented financial woes. Confusion over fundamental priorities and purposes, the author argues, lies at the heart of the dilemma facing end-of-the-century higher education. Thoughtful and timely, Crisis in the Academy offers a wide-ranging analysis of contemporary higher education while making an important contribution to the ongoing public debate over the future of America's beleaguered and diverse institutions of higher learning.

"Why is it that as we enter the twenty-first century, the nation's predominantly white colleges and universities continue to be settings where people of color feel unwelcome and marginalized? The contributors to this volume dissect a variety of structural and attitudinal factors that are prevalent in the higher education community, organizational constructs and value orientations which seem to hark more to the past than to the future. They comment on the political, social, and economic factors that have shaped academic culture, and buttressed its quietly efficient maintenance of racially discriminatory practices. "The American system of higher education is often regarded as the best in the world. Smith, Altbach, and Lomotey have edited a volume that implicitly asks how much better still it could be if it embraced people of color and provided them with a supportive and nurturing environment, one which encouraged them to reach their fullest creative and intellectual potential. Indeed, this will probably be the most significant challenge that the academy faces in the twenty-first century." — William B. Harvey, Vice President and Director, Office of Minorities in Higher Education American Council on Education, Washington, D.C.

Since New York is a leader in the nation's higher education arena, most of the issues and concerns faced in New York have direct implications throughout the entire United States. Financing college, access, quality, time-to-degree, and demographic changes in student and faculty populations are a sampling of the concerns raised in this volume. These are issues that transcend local and state boundaries and offer a challenge to higher education at the end of the 20th century.

Colleges in Crisis describes how the Covid and a shrinking birth rate over the last decade will devastate private colleges and universities if they cannot quickly transform their curriculum, operations, and marketing methods. The book offers two turnaround strategies that have been successfully used over the last twenty years. In addition, the book discusses the obstacles that leaders will face in conducting a transformational turnaround.

Resolving the Crisis in Higher Education: The Key Role of Business Continuity Planning asks and answers probing questions affecting higher education in the post-COVID-19 educational landscape. The book examines whether private universities, particularly liberal arts colleges, have viable business models and discusses the risk posed by a faulty business model. It fits a liberal arts foundation into a sustainable value chain for a university and shows how business continuity planning (BCP) can help a university to achieve long-term sustainable operation. It also recommends goals, composition, and successful practices for a business continuity planning task force. Ultimately, this book creates a pathway to build viable undergraduate degrees on a liberal arts foundation. It concludes with authority, responsibility, and accountability in business continuity planning.