Ep. 64: A Struggling College’s Plea for Help

Doug Lederman: Time is growing short. That’s how one struggling private college’s president described her institution’s situation this week in a very atypical plea for help. Hello, I’m Doug Lederman, editor of Inside Higher Ed and host of The Key, Inside Higher Ed’s news and analysis podcast. In this week’s episode, we discuss the unusual statement made Tuesday by Bloomfield College, a New Jersey private institution whose students are overwhelmingly Black and Hispanic and have an average family income of $32,000. Bloomfield acknowledged that it won’t make it through the 22-23 academic year in its current condition and asked for help from potential philanthropists and partner institutions to keep its mission alive. Marcheta Evans, Bloomfield’s president, joins the program today to talk about its unexpected approach to an increasingly common plight for small private colleges, including why it chose to go public about a situation that many institutions hide.

Sound clip: I think more colleges need to do that and just be open about it and transparent and say we need help. And again, maybe it’s in my counseling background, I’m not ashamed to say I need help. And so, you know, there might be somebody out there that will hear our story and say, okay, Marcheta, I hear you. And, you know, and not give to the big prestigious Ivy institutions, but give to where your dollars will really matter.

Doug Lederman: Our other guest today is Barbara Brittingham, president emerita of the New England Commission of Higher Education, who, as leader of the accrediting body in the demographically challenged Northeast, encountered more than her fair share of financially ailing institutions.

Doug Lederman: Before we begin, here’s a word from Formstack, the sponsor of the next six episodes of The Key. It’s time to ditch paper processes. Too many of us are still drowning in paper, fixing printers, and chasing signatures. Formstack helps your teams automate manual processes, streamline student registration, and simplify enrollment, all without code. Learn why 27,000 organizations have turned to Formstack to help them reimagine their world of work. Go to formstack.com/IHE.

Doug Lederman: Here’s my conversation with Marcheta P. Evans, president of Bloomfield College. Dr. Evans, welcome to The Key and thanks for taking the time out of what I’m sure is a tumultuous time to talk to us.

Marcheta P. Evans: Good morning, Doug. Happy to be here.

Doug Lederman: You’re announcing this week that Bloomfield needs significant help in the form of strategic partnerships or philanthropic support to continue to carry out its mission. To go kind of big picture for a moment, what’s at stake if you don’t succeed? What would be lost if Bloomfield can’t continue its mission?

Marcheta P. Evans: Oh my goodness, I don’t even want to think about that, but I have to, right? You know, if we don’t succeed, so much will be lost. And I’m going to start first off with my students. The biggest casualty will be our students’ dreams and their aspirations. As you may already know, we’re the only predominantly Black institution, Hispanic-serving institution, and minority-serving institution that’s four years here in New Jersey. There are no HBCUs, and our student population is 49% Black and 33% Hispanic, with half of those students being first generation. That’s the first in their family to attend higher education. And I don’t even know how this is even possible, but my median family income for my students is just over 32,000. So, you know, again, our students coming to a place like Bloomfield College, which is a small liberal arts, independent private institution here, is a special place for them. And once they graduate, they go from what we sometimes, a lot of our students go from, what’s the fifth quintile to the second quintile, is that social economic lift, that social mobility that is important to them. And I tell you, this is really a personal mission for me for us to be successful at Bloomfield College. You know, being raised by my grandparents during the civil rights movement and my grandmother instilling in me the importance of education. I know that if we’re not successful, that so much will be lost. And we just, again, have to do everything possible to make sure that that does not happen.

Doug Lederman: What’s your sense based on your understanding? You’ve only been there a couple of years, but you obviously have probably studied the history pretty carefully. What’s your sense, both from before you got there and since you’ve been there, of what were the forces that led the college to this point? And I certainly have to say up front, you know, any most of our listeners know this is not exceptional for institutions of Bloomfield’s type to be, to have issues. But so what were the particular circumstances there and the environmental factors that have created this moment?

Marcheta P. Evans: It’s been a combination of different things. We’ve had multi-year enrollment declines that of course translated into loss of tuition, which is our largest source of revenues. And then the pandemic hit us. And, you know, and that in and of itself with the demographics I’ve already described has disproportionately impacted the Black and brown community. You know, it has created problems on campus. Even learning remotely has been a challenge for a lot of our students because a lot of our students are from the Newark area, Essex County, if you’re familiar with New Jersey, one of the largest counties, but also one of the poorest counties in New Jersey. And so the pandemic has hit and it has created multiple problems for our students, specifically in the recruitment of students. You know, right now, if you deal with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, our students aren’t thinking about postsecondary when they’re dealing with food, clothing, and shelter, which a lot of our students have food insecurities and housing insecurities. They’ve had to focus on that. They’ve had parents with so much loss, jobs, all kinds of things. And that, again, predated, of course, the enrollment declines, but even more exacerbated as a result of the pandemic. And we still unfortunately cannot get into the schools to recruit right now.

Doug Lederman: My sense is that you had maybe started to turn things around pre-pandemic. Maybe tell us more about that and then how the pandemic wiped that out.

Marcheta P. Evans: Yeah. So, you know, when I first came here in 2019, even before that, when I interviewed for the job in 2018, I absolutely fell in love with Bloomfield College. And I knew, my background is in counseling, that if I can get into the schools, if I can get the families and the students to see someone that looked like them, that maybe had dealt with some of their challenges that they had in their lives, that they would come to see what I already knew that Bloomfield College was the place for them. So, you know, we were out and about. I had my vice president of enrollment management, he and I were doing what I call my dog and pony show, and we were really going out there and hitting the pavements and really having an impact. And, you know, based on numbers, literally the deposited numbers, not just hypothetical in the air numbers, we were going to see an 8.6% increase in enrollment.

Doug Lederman: Going into 2020, you mean?

Marcheta P. Evans: Yeah, into 2020, you know, that fall of 2020 before the pandemic. And so we were, you know, we were really excited about it. But then that March, you know, the pandemic hit. We didn’t know what was going to happen. Students were afraid. Students, some came, some left in the middle of the semester because, again, my students needed to be at home for a variety of different reasons. They lost a lot. I had one student to say he lost nine family members as a result of the pandemic. So then, you know, we were seeing this turnaround, and then everything just went instead of an 8.6% increase, we had a significant decrease in enrollment, right? And so, you know, this took that just took this wind out of our sails. And so, you know, our students are what we call high touch. You need to talk to the family members. You need to help them understand the financial aid, how postsecondary is important to them or should be important to them. And we haven’t been able to do that. We haven’t been able to sit down. You know, we try to use the technology, but it’s not the same. It simply is not the same. And then, you know, with the parents as well, you know, I was going to churches, you know, community centers with this community. You have to be out and about. They have to know you. Can I trust you to send my baby to postsecondary and you’re going to take care of them? And we lost all of that when the pandemic hit. And I will tell you too, you know, having been a counselor myself, the counselors were struggling in the high schools just to get the kids to show up. So let alone thinking about going into postsecondary, a lot of the students weren’t even showing up for their regular classes to complete high school.

Doug Lederman: Tell us what you can about the various steps that you have taken since you’ve been there, sort of leading up to this announcement you made this week. What have you explored and what has led you to this request plea? I don’t know how you describe it.

Marcheta P. Evans: So, you know, one of the things that, you know, when I came on board as president, and I think it’s part of my personality and kind of who I am anyway, is being transparent and also putting it out there and communicating people and to let them know where we are as an institution. And again, this is not rocket science. This is not a great big secret. We know that in the Northeast, there are going to be challenges for other institutions, not just Bloomfield College, and that it’s going to continue. You know, I always say the Northeast stopped having babies. And so, therefore, you know, the pool as far as the students coming into higher education, it’s going to get less and less. And so, as a result of that, you know, we are all competing for a small pot of students. But Bloomfield College, what I’m trying to say is a special place. And this is why it is a special place. And this is why we need to fight for its very survival. Because if these students don’t come to Bloomfield College, they may not choose to go into postsecondary at all. Even though other institutions are facing similar challenges, I don’t think other institutions have a similar mission as Bloomfield College. Our community is truly family-centered, and I need all hands on deck right now to turn this around.

Doug Lederman: I’m assuming you’ve been in conversations up to now. What have been the biggest impediments to finding a path forward before this week’s announcement? Where have you seen the impediments? What have been the barriers to a solution or an answer that seemed viable to you?

Marcheta P. Evans: Yeah, well, you know, so let me back it up a little bit. You know, even before the pandemic hit, I honestly thought that Bloomfield College should be looking for strategic partnerships. You know, we were going to be looking for, and we were looking for strategic partners for our online development, for graduate education. And we had developed some of those, some three plus twos, four plus twos, a variety of different programs, you know, again, online kind of hybrid programs we’re looking at exploring as well. What the pandemic took from us was time and some resources. And so that’s kind of been the biggest barrier. And also, with that time, which we haven’t kind of talked about, has been the mental stress, I think, that has been kind of exacerbated by the pandemic as well. That everyone has been not only physically and spiritually drained, but emotionally and mentally drained as well.

Doug Lederman: You talked about Maslow’s hierarchy for your students. It’s hard to be strategic. I’ve had enough conversations with institutional leaders of late that it’s hard for them to be strategic and to look down the road when it’s a question of how are we keeping our students and staff safe and all sorts of things. So it’s your own, your own hierarchy has been challenged as well.

Marcheta P. Evans: Yeah. It is. It is. You know, and being trying to be attentive to that too, as well. You know, again, we focus on the students primarily because, again, you know, I always say the faculty and the staff are the ones with the power. The students have it too, but sometimes they don’t recognize it, you know. But the staff and the faculty, the whole community is really been struggling. So it’s, I don’t know if you would call that a barrier, just a reality.

Doug Lederman: The various behind the scenes conversations you had and the steps you took in recent months clearly weren’t sufficient to keep you from making the announcement you made this week, which was pretty unusual. What ultimately persuaded you to go that route?

Marcheta P. Evans: I think it’s a combination of everything. We have to do every single thing that we can. And again, our community, you know, over the last couple of years with the pandemic, you know, we had asked our faculty and staff, you know, as far as some ways to mitigate our financial issues to, you know, not take maybe some of the benefits or not the pay increases. And everyone has been so willing to be supportive because they understand the mission of the college, right? And so again, the community is kind of aware because they’ve been with us and sacrificing along the way. And we asked them, fortunately, we were able to kind of reinstate some of that last year. But this year, we had to ask them again, can you hold off and let’s see what this year is going to hold for us? And their willingness to do that without even groaning or whatever, they did it. Okay. Now, you ask the question of what’s gotten us to this point? Time. Honestly, time, you know, but also not just time. Again, going back to my personality, I don’t like doing things behind the scenes or in the back. If we’re doing something, we all need to be in it. And going back to that shared governance and transparency, everybody needs to know why we’re doing this. Now, we’re not out telling what institutions we might be strategically looking at. They have to have similar missions to Bloomfield College, you know, for us to kind of maintain our identity. But, you know, again, now it’s out there and people know that we need major philanthropic donations again, right? And we need to find the right strategic partner. We’re not going after any strategic partner. We’re going after that special strategic partner that will help us continue our mission here at Bloomfield College.

Doug Lederman: We’re talking today with Marcheta Evans, president of Bloomfield College. What is the range of possibilities here? What are the possible ways of getting you to where you want to go?

Marcheta P. Evans: Right now, I will tell you, the range is pretty wide and we’re pretty, you know, we’re not going in with any kind of preset model in mind, but we know we need a significant partner to come in to help us transform. You know, being a small liberal arts institution, as I mentioned earlier, you know, our technology, we need to have that improved. Some of our back office functions and operations, they need to be shored up. So a partner, again, that can come in and kind of infuse that, those types of things, as well as dollars, you know, programs, again, that, you know, we have very limited graduate programs, very limited online programs that we really think that our students can benefit from. Those type of partnerships are what we’re looking for. And so, you know, we’re strategically going after those type of relationships.

Doug Lederman: Higher education doesn’t do mergers very well. And typically, when there are mergers, one institution is absorbed and often it’s hard to find traces of it. You talked about this special mission. Is that something you want to avoid to the extent you can?

Marcheta P. Evans: Yes, most definitely. We’re hoping, one, to retain our name, Bloomfield College. Two, to retain our mission, you know, again, serving the students that we serve. And I think that makes us attractive to a lot of institutions too, when 80-something percent of our students are students of color, especially with all the things that are going on right now. I think a lot of these institutions really want to help students such as ours, because we know, again, the impact. You know, if I had two or three students just a week ago get a job at a local industry here that are now making six figures. Again, going back to that median family income, this transforms not only the students’ life, but the whole system. Any partner that we’re looking for, we’re hoping and praying that again, and strategically, not just hoping and praying, we have that upfront, that we’re hoping that we will again be able to do these types of things with this partnership. Now, the bottom line is it’s all about the students and the saving of the institution. And so, with these partnerships and this philanthropy, we’re hoping we can do that.

Doug Lederman: What are the implications of your situation for your peers in the industry, whether they are small private colleges generally, institutions that serve predominantly low-income and minority students? You are not unique by any means in facing some of these challenges. What do you hope to be the sort of signals that your situation sends at in the moment you’re in and hopefully with an outcome?

Marcheta P. Evans: You know, when I first came to New Jersey, you know, I talked to several other presidents around about possibly what can we do to kind of pool our resources? Because again, as you say, it’s not unique to us, but even though Bloomfield College, I want to say is unique, you know, but the basic operations, that’s not unique. I mean, we all have to have technology. We all have to have all these other types of, you know, LMS, the whole infrastructure, those kinds of things. That’s at any institution, big, small, medium, large, you know, whatever. And so, you know, trying to get people to come together is going to be critical. Now, I know, even though others are keeping it quiet, that they’re struggling mightily in the state and around and surrounding areas in the Northeast. And I don’t want to be one of those statistics that you report that waited too late and buried their head in the sand. And, you know, the alumni or the students said they didn’t know. Thus, that’s part of the reason why we’re putting it out there, too, is that we’re not at the end. We’re not closing our doors next week. We have this runway and we want to extend the runway so that we can be successful. And I think more colleges need to do that and just be open about it and transparent and say we need help. And again, maybe it’s my counseling background. I’m not ashamed to say I need help. And so, you know, there might be somebody out there that will hear our story and say, okay, Marcheta, I hear you. And, you know, and not give to the big prestigious Ivy institutions, but give to where your dollars will really matter. And I might even name a building after you, you know, whatever. But really getting people to understand if you really want your dollars to have an impact that you can see where it can transform lives, you need to give to small private liberal art institutions that are transforming those lives.

Doug Lederman: It’s time to ditch paper processes. Too many of us are still drowning in paper, fixing printers, and chasing signatures. Formstack helps your teams automate manual processes, streamline student registration, and simplify enrollment, all without code. Learn why 27,000 organizations have turned to Formstack to help them reimagine their world of work. Go to formstack.com/IHE.

Doug Lederman: To continue and expand the scope of the conversation about Bloomfield’s unexpected plea, we’re joined now by Barbara Brittingham, president emerita of the New England Commission of Higher Education, who has helped numerous colleges in the Northeast navigate challenges not unlike those that Bloomfield is facing. Barbara, welcome to The Key and thanks for being here.

Barbara Brittingham: Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Doug Lederman: Help us put this announcement from Bloomfield College in some context. You’ve obviously had a lot of experience in New England with small private colleges that are in tough financial situations. It struck me as somewhat unusual for one to go public like this. Is that your experience or what do you see?

Barbara Brittingham: I would say this is the most public that I have seen. And, you know, if you go to the NECHE website, neche.org, under information for the public, there’s closed and merged institutions. And one of the things that you can see there is this has been going on for a long time in New England because New England is an older part of the country in terms of history, if not in age of its citizens. And so it’s had a lot of small independent colleges for a long time. So there’s a lot of experience with that. And some are sort of known to be looking. When I was there, we knew of some that weren’t as publicly announced. Then there’s, you know, sort of semi-publicly announced. So you may be familiar with the book When Colleges Close by Mary Churchill and David Chard about their experience with Wheelock into Boston University. And they were quasi-public about looking around. I think with the help of Inside Higher Ed, Bloomfield is the most public that I’ve seen. Talk us through the pros and cons of that very public approach in terms of both the positives of transparency, which I think a lot of us strive for, and the potential negative ramifications of awareness that an institution is struggling. I don’t know Bloomfield or didn’t know it before. You know, I read what you sent me and what was in Inside Higher Ed this morning, but I don’t, it’s not an institution I know, but they clearly have a couple of assets. One, I think, is the transparency. If an institution is interested in being a partner, I would think that they would admire that transparency that they have shown. Another is their student body, because I think a lot of institutions are working hard to diversify their student body. And not only do they have a diverse student body, but I have every reason to believe they know a lot about how to help those students be successful in college and after college. And that could be a real asset for an institution that’s looking to make a bold move in that direction. You know, the downsides are, you know, perhaps current students or potential students knowing that the institution is that fragile, not knowing what they would be getting into might make faculty nervous. On the other hand, the faculty may also appreciate the transparency because they likely know the place is fragile and they see the board and the president trying to do something purposeful to get them to a better place.

Doug Lederman: Barbara, what do you see as the range of possibilities for an institution like Bloomfield that is looking outwardly for a more sustainable future?

Barbara Brittingham: Yeah, we’ve seen, and unfortunately, I don’t remember the examples, but we’ve seen a couple of places where a public institution has taken on an independent institution. And, you know, I think it would be interesting to see if there’s any discussion in New Jersey because the student body at Bloomfield is important to the state. And is there any consideration of a state institution figuring out something with Bloomfield on behalf of that student body?

Doug Lederman: The one thing that the Bloomfield people really want, and to me, this isn’t necessarily, this doesn’t jive with what we’ve seen a lot historically, is that it’s really important to them to stay independent. And a lot of the situations we’ve seen where colleges are struggling, we’ve seen them largely absorbed and mostly disappear. And that’s very much not what Bloomfield is hoping for. And we’ll see how that unfolds.

Barbara Brittingham: Well, then they’re hoping for philanthropy because I think in any kind of partnership, you’re going to have some degree of independence taken away. And in most of what we’ve seen in New England, the larger, wealthier institution takes over essentially by whatever verb you want to use, the one that’s looking for quote a partner. And but I think it’s important to prioritize what you want, what you want to keep. And for many institutions, they want the name somehow to be preserved. I think trust is key. You know, I’ve talked to some presidents that have looked around at different partnerships, and one of them, who shall remain nameless in this conversation, said, you know, we talked to a lot of people, and where we went, it was the one we trusted the most. We felt we could be open, we could be candid, we weren’t going to get hurt, it might not work until the last minute. And we know, but we trust them. It is interesting. We are seeing, we’ve seen huge infusion of money by philanthropists like MacKenzie Scott and others into institutions, you know, not dissimilar from Bloomfield. You know, it’s certainly conceivable to me that Bloomfield was trying to put itself on MacKenzie Scott’s radar screen that they might not have been on before.

Doug Lederman: I think you’re right that in this moment where we are collectively even more worried and interested in the socioeconomic and racial equity in higher education, equity of access and equity of success, that an institution like Bloomfield does seem to have assets that would be attractive to in its students. More attractive than ever, I think, at this moment.

Barbara Brittingham: Yeah, absolutely.

Doug Lederman: As you scan the landscape now, what’s your sense of the financial situation that institutions are facing? And is it your sense that we’ll see more of this kind of activity?

Barbara Brittingham: I think we will see more activity. And I think, you know, one of the things to keep in mind about thinking about what you want, again, I don’t know Bloomfield, but it could well be the case that one of the reasons that they are successful with their student body is that the place is small. And, you know, when I listen to college students and read about it, the students know certain things if they can go to campuses and look. And one of them is size for all kinds of students. And I believe strongly that there are students who can be successful at a small place that would just get lost at a large place. And that may be—may or may not be, you can find out, related to wanting independence, wanting to be able to make the decision so that our students are well looked after.

Doug Lederman: Yeah. Well, it was definitely the case that Bloomfield’s struggles were greatly exacerbated, not surprisingly, by the pandemic and the inability to make the case to students sort of almost one-on-one in local high schools that the place was different and would be a place where they could thrive and that the lack, their inability to do that. And again, that is a factor of size to some extent and also institutional nature.

Barbara Brittingham: It was hard. You know, I think it was hard. I have somebody in my family as a freshman this year, and it was hard because she had, her parents were a little bit aggressive about this, but she had a much harder time visiting schools than her brother, who was just a year younger than she is. And so, you know, choosing a place, thinking about what’s going to be the right place for me for those students who have a choice, or even those students who hear somebody from, say, Bloomfield, come to us, this is what we’re like, unless you can go see it. That’s, I think, a lot harder for any student.

Doug Lederman: How would you anticipate we should be watching this Bloomfield situation play out? And how would you be likely to define success for an appeal like the one Bloomfield has put out?

Barbara Brittingham: Yeah, I think it’s the trust and again, keeping the students in mind and what’s going to be best for those students. I like to make up ridiculous examples. So I’m going to make up the example that Ohio State says, oh, that’s exactly what we need. And just bring them all here. Well, that’s, you know, it’s a huge place. And so if that were attractive, the people at Bloomfield would have to figure out how we can make sure that students feel the same level of support there at that huge place that they feel here. And what does that mean about the arrangement that we would want?

Doug Lederman: That’s all for this week’s episode of The Key, which is the closest thing to breaking news I think you’ll find on this podcast. I suspect we might return to this topic when we discover how Bloomfield’s unusual gambit of going public with its financial troubles turns out, whether it’s with an eight-figure donation, a partnership with a wealthy university that allows it to remain independent, or an arrangement in which it shares a wide array of services and programs with other like-minded colleges. Thanks to Marcheta Evans and Barbara Brittingham for their insights, to Formstack for its sponsorship, and to you as always for spending a little time with us at Inside Higher Ed and The Key. We’ll be back next week. Until then, stay well and stay safe.