Dive Brief:

• Marian Court College, a small Catholic school near Boston, announced its abrupt closure this week, ending a 50-year history.
• Inside Higher Ed reports that the tuition-reliant college has seen shrinking enrollment and does not have an endowment to fall back on.
• The long-time two-year institution started offering four-year degrees in 2011, but in a state that has a shrinking number of high school graduates, it could not attract enough new students to stay afloat, according to the article.

Dive Insight:

According to Inside Higher Ed, four colleges have announced closures this year, and a fifth has suspended operations. Sweet Briar College in Virginia, a women’s college, has been the most high-profile closure as its board of trustees announced their decision with a sizeable endowment in place. Marian Court College seemed to be hoping for a financial boost to keep the doors open right up until the announcement. The college reportedly does not have enough money to make payroll this summer and has taken faculty by surprise with the abrupt end to operations.

Boston has one of the highest concentrations of higher education institutions in the world. With increasing competition from alternative programs, there is no shortage of institutional struggle to survive.