Some started as commuter schools providing technical training with a liberal-arts underpinning. They have historically catered to the middle and working classes, have much smaller endowments than the elite schools, and are used to operating on a shoestring. But the pressures they face have been multiplying relentlessly. After growing steadily for decades after World War II, college enrollment has been stagnant or falling nationally since the early 1990s. That spells trouble for small schools, because tuition is often their primary revenue source.
Sticker shock is one reason for the enrollment decline.
In addition, parents and students have become choosier about how they spend their higher-education dollars. Increasingly, they are economizing on undergraduate diplomas so they can spend more on graduate degrees from marquee schools. Small colleges have also found their traditional geographic bases eroding. They faced little competition within their immediate vicinities. Now, the quest for students has led small schools to invade one another's turf with satellite campuses.