Data published by the education platform Inside Higher Ed, says around 16 colleges closed in 2025 and that number could jump higher in 2026.
But in southern states, they see a spike, like the University of Alabama, the University of Mississippi, and the University of Florida.
Brianna Chapman writer at the College Fix looked into the recent higher ed numbers and found that over the last 8 years, there have been more than 100 colleges have either closed or merged,
In 2024, there was a Federal Reserve published a study that predicted 80 would close in the next five years, equaling 16 per year.
On what the future may hold for Universities, Chapman interviewed Richard Vedder, former economics professor at Ohio University who is a senior fellow at the Independent Institute.
“The number of colleges failing has not risen to “pandemic levels. However, the financial problems have grown significantly in the last five to ten years and “total college enrollment” has reached a “stagnation, even a decline,” Vedder said.
Vedder says one of the reasons why some of these schools are closing is the Trump administration cutting back on federal grant dollars.
Another reason for school closures and a drop in enrollment is more parents and students are realizing that a college degree is not needed for a good paying job.
Another online education site, Best Colleges, (bestcollegres.com) surveyed college students and found going back to 2022, 10.1 million college students (54%) took at least one class online.
In 2024, Best Colleges released a survey that showed:
96% of online college graduates would recommend online learning.
93% of graduates said their online degree will result in a positive return on investment.
Three-quarters of students (75%) said online education was better than or equal to in-person learning.
