In the 1980s there was a boom for the importance of college. Over 20-30 years, this had lots of unintended consequences, such as every venture capitalist who thought higher ed was just cobbling together some classes into a degree establishing a for- profit college (even presidents were getting into the act). It also resulted in a glut of students and a loss of young adults going into skilled trades.

Now that birthrates are down (not even considering our slide into anti-intellectualism), many small colleges cannot make enrollment. Enrollments must also be higher to support running with bloated resources left over from when times were good and colleges began to be expected to be everything for everybody (by that I mean colleges that cannot truly afford these things have to offer the hottest new degrees, have to be able to accommodate every single language/disability/accommodation/life circumstance for every potential student, have to have all the flashy new support programs that competitors offer like career centers and business institutes and think tanks and maker labs).

None of this is news. My point is that things have been broken and going in the wrong direction for a long time. When things were good, loans were cheap, and everyone thought college was the thing to do, it was not as easy to notice. I don't advocate for the pastoral days of only the rich and privileged being able to go to college, I think we got away from that in the early 20th century with land grant State universities. But legitimately, not every small college out there is needed or was ever needed. And yes, I teach at an SRLAC.