Shuttered Halls: Synthesizing the Silent Collapse of American Higher Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 1:45 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Predictors of institutional Sustainability: enrollment and other considerations

Abstract

American colleges and universities are entering a period of systemic financial vulnerability that has already triggered an historic wave of closures, mergers, and retrenchment. This integrative literature review analyses 76 peer-reviewed studies published between 1975 and 2025, situating institutional failure within a political-economy framework that foregrounds chronic public disinvestment, demographic contraction, tuition discounting, and leverage-driven capital expansion. Mixed-method synthesis reveals six convergent findings: public funding erosion compresses margins; demand shocks are regionally concentrated; discounting erodes net revenue; debt amplifies solvency risk; governance mediates outcomes; and closures impose uneven social costs. The review critiques reactive federal oversight and unreliable predictive algorithms, identifies neglected public-sector and student-impact research gaps, and proposes proactive leadership and early-warning regulation agendas.

Authors

• Jaden Alexandra Mikoulinskii, University of Georgia

• Abigail Affholter, University of Georgia

• Jordan Mackenzie Mitchell, University of Georgia