It's a rough time for higher education. The recently announced shutdown of Concordia University in the Portland area makes the third institution of higher ed to shut down in the metro area in recent years.
The surviving schools face increasing costs and declining enrollments as the "birth dearth" of the recession years makes its presence felt. Southern Oregon University was recently singled out for financial vulnerability in a report to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC).
SOU President Linda Schott finds some flaws in the report's methodology. She joins us to talk about it, along with Jim Pinkard, who runs the Office of Postsecondary Finance and Capital for HECC.
A third guest is Nathan Grawe from Minnesota's Carleton College. He wrote the book--in 2018--about higher education and demographics.