Future of Liberal Arts College

Daniel H. Weiss, president of Lafayette College in this article reports his fear that Liberal Arts Colleges in the near future will become obsolete because of 4 major themes he has identified. Those themes include affordability, skepticism about the successfulness of institutions of higher education, shifting demographics, and technology. The theme that struck me the most was the shifting demographic. Weiss states “The challenge for us is not that diversity is not a great thing—it’s a great thing,” Mr. Weiss said. “Our challenge is that for many liberal-arts colleges … the decrease in enrollments in traditional areas of strength requires us to develop our story and a new way of reaching out.”

I'm not sure about you, but to me it would seem as though Colleges and Universities should be willing to reach beyond their majority population to encourage others to attend. And what is to be said about the use of "traditional areas of strength" especially when Weiss projects "Within 10 years, nonwhite children will make up more than half of all children in the United States, rising to 62 percent by midcentury".

Read the article here A President Surveys the Future of Liberal Arts Colleges