Campus shutdowns come with real costs to students and families, write Nick Ducoff and Sabrina Manville, yet consumers can struggle to find information about the financial viability of colleges. The U.S. Department of Education and others are trying to make better information on college costs and outcomes available to students; however, government data aren’t always readily consumable, and some colleges make the information difficult to find or interpret. In the two years since we founded Edmit, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in anxiety around debt, questions about whether college is worth it and a small but growing set of voices asking about the financial viability of the colleges on their list. Students (and their parents, if they are dependent students) are seeing more college closures and mergers and are beginning to tune in to how they might affect them.
