That's what observers are wondering in the wake of Sweetbriar College's precipitous decision this week to close its doors at the end of the semester.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/03/06/will-sweet-briars-closure-prompt-college-leaders-rethink-their-fight-stay-open
American higher education has passed through several major cycles or waves. The earliest of these was the founding of numerous small liberal-arts colleges. Some grew to be the Ivy League. Others kept their original character and became prestigious and wealthy, e.g., Swarthmore.
Others have been holding on by their fingernails. They survived the great land-grant movement of 19th century, the onslaught of the R1s, such as CWRU and Chicago and Carnegie Mellon, and the megaversity wave of the fifties and sixties. But perhaps the new wave--- blown by a wind put of cyberspace-- if just too much for them.
So why is there morning and wringing of hands? If the time has come for these early entrants to exit stage-left, then so be. Let's focus on educating as many Americans as we can, as affordably as we can, and not fret if these small schools can no longer contribute to this goal.
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