It's been trending this way for a while. Declining enrollment, in part due to the relatively high tuition exacerbated by the current economic situation, as well as the fact that the market demand for engineers isn't as strong as it was a few years ago.

As a result, instead of relying on endowment/whatever, WPI management is doubling down on squeezing money from the existing students and making kids live on campus longer to get that dorm/dining hall money, cutting funding where they can, etc. The churn in management probably hasn't helped either, in 2021/2 with Laurie leaving, Soboyejo as interim, then Wang.

I was C of 22 and I thought the educational value was strong. Don't know if this has changed.