Many small colleges are struggling and should remember that denial is not prevention. Technology is providing new ways for students to get degrees without being a resident on a campus, accrediting agencies are increasing their demands for evidence that students are learning, and the costs for operating an institution (such as utilities and…

Scarcely a week goes by without a headline about the unsustainability of higher education as we know it, under threat from new models, for-profits, or online education. Most threatened are small liberal arts colleges--with commentators predicting the demise of colleges with fewer than 1,000, or even 1,500 students. Are these trends inevitable, or…