🎓 Financially fragile | Morning Newsletter

Welcome to Wednesday, Philly. The sun and chill both return today, with high temps in the low 50s.

The region’s small, private colleges, such as Rosemont and La Salle, are in fragile financial health amid an especially competitive time in the higher-education sector, an Inquirer analysis of 13 schools found.

And as a population boom pushes Northeast Philadelphia public schools beyond capacity limits, students are learning in hallways and repurposed closets. Educators are describing the situation as “crisis mode” and “panic time.”

— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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An Inquirer analysis of 13 small, private colleges in Greater Philadelphia found that several are struggling in the face of a nationwide higher-ed enrollment decline, as well as with individual challenges.

Challenging circumstances: These institutions tend to have smaller endowments, which gives them less financial wiggle room when fewer students are paying tuition — and when prospective students may be prioritizing affordability.

In poor health: Among the region’s most financially vulnerable schools are Rosemont College and La Salle and Delaware Valley universities. These and others have undertaken cost-cutting measures such as resizing their academic programs, or reducing faculty and staff.

An exception: Holy Family University in Northeast Philadelphia has thrived in a tough market. “They’re living within their means,” said Julee Gard, who developed the financial viability index used in the Inquirer analysis while she was a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania.

Reporters Susan Snyder and Harold Brubaker have the full report, complete with deep dives into the most vulnerable colleges’ financial pictures and efforts to reverse course.

A different kind of enrollment crisis in unfolding in Northeast Philadelphia, where some public schools are over capacity by hundreds of students.

🏫 The overcrowding means educators can’t adequately serve their kids, they said in a public listening session this week. Several have been forced to get creative with classroom allocation or to cap enrollment, sending would-be students to schools farther from home.

📓 Immigration, especially, is fueling the population boom in the Northeast. Many of these new students are English language learners.

🎒 “We welcome them, we love them, we care for them, but we can’t service them if we have to send them to another school,” the principal of Bustleton’s Anne Frank Elementary said.

Education reporter Kristen A. Graham relays Northeast Philly educators’ concerns about the conditions they’re facing.

Out of 100 Philadelphia-area public companies, how many CEOs are women, according to the latest report from The Forum of Executive Women?

A) Four

B) 10

C) 24

D) 50

Think you know? Check your answer.

⛸️ Visiting: Dilworth Plaza, where ice skating and holiday shopping return this Friday.

🦪 Eating: At all the new Queen Village hotspots ... and at the airport?

👨‍👧‍👧 Considering: How to explain the election results to children.

The Jersey-based home to the world’s tallest roller coaster

ADVENTIST GARAGES REFLUX

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Rob Jones, who solved Tuesday’s anagram: Olde Bar. The Old City oyster house that chef Jose Garces founded nearly 10 years ago is closing — though it’s not the end of its space.

👋 Thanks for starting your day with The Inquirer. Back at it tomorrow.

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