Dive Brief:
- The board of directors for Sweet Briar College, a small liberal arts school for women, voted unanimously Tuesday to close this August because of shrinking enrollment and inadequate funding.
- The Washington Post reports this closure fits into a trend in all-female programs, the number of which has been shrinking for decades. Whereas 50 years ago, there were 230 such colleges, now there are 40.
- The Post features commentary from several women’s college leaders, however, who say some of these institutions are thriving — including mainstays Smith, Wellesley, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, and Spelman.
Dive Insight:
With traditional higher education institutions facing increasing competition from for-profit colleges and programs offering career-specific credentials, the possibility of thriving in a gendered niche may be a short-term proposition. Liberal arts colleges more generally are facing scrutiny for leaving their graduates without obvious career prospects, and all-female liberal arts schools fit into an even more narrow mold. Sweet Briar College’s closure is extreme but not uncommon among its peers, several of which have avoided that fate by accepting men to fill enrollment gaps. These schools include Wilson College in Pennsylvania, William Peace University in North Carolina, and Georgian Court University in New Jersey.