Why "The Walking Dead" is such a big hit.

It's the same reason that Sweet Briar College will now go on for a while longer.  People apparently love to see the dead reanimated.  In the case of the tiny women's college, its announcement last spring that it intended to shut its doors reanimated its alumna and even got the Virginia attorney general on his feet.  Now, like "The Walking Dead," Sweet Briar will stumble and stagger down the road for an indeterminate time ahead.

http://chronicle.com/article/Joy-Over-Sweet-Briar-s/231043/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/22/deal-will-save-sweet-briar-college

http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/va-attorney-general-announces-rescue-plan-sweet-briar-college

But the simple fact is that private higher education is over-populated with over-priced,  often over-rated institutions.  Most now call themselves "universities," even if they only offer a few master's degrees.  ("When everybody's somebody, no one's anybody." Gilbert & Sullivan) A shakeout is inevitable in the non-profit arena, just as it is being forced by the DOE and the DOJ in the for-profit sector.  The sooner we get on with it and hone down to the institutions of genuine quality and financial strength, the better.