On Main Street in Worcester, a Salvadoran bakery sits beside a Chinese takeout joint, just around the corner from Vietnamese and Dominican restaurants. Taken together, they’re a daily reminder of the global community Clark University has cultivated.
Today, that international identity is in jeopardy. More than a third of Clark’s undergrads and two-thirds of its graduate students come from abroad. But many may not return this fall due to visa delays and growing skepticism about the U.S. as a study destination.
“Whether it’s visa issues or the perception that America may not be the best place right now, we’re expecting some negative effects,” said Clark President David Fithian. “We’re prepared to deal with that financially.”
Clark is one example of how higher education institutions are rethinking their business models due to converging circumstances.
Besides the drop in international enrollment, Clark is bracing for a significant drop in domestic enrollment, too. Like many small private colleges, it’s competing for a shrinking pool of traditional-aged students who are increasingly skeptical about the value of a four-year degree, and now facing slashed financial aid. All of this adds up to a major drop in revenue.
The university plans to cut more than a quarter of its faculty in the coming years as it retools its academic offerings to focus on fields like climate and environment, media and computing, and health and human behavior — areas Clark leaders say are more relevant to today’s world and job market.
A new report from the Burning Glass Institute finds the unemployment rate for recent college graduates is now higher than for those with associate’s degrees, or even some college and no degree. The report suggests that trend is likely to continue given “the targeted elimination of entry-level roles in AI exposed fields.”
“We have no choice but to look at our lowest enrollment programs,” said Fithian, a Clark alum who graduated in 1987 with a degree in sociology. “People aren’t comfortable talking about colleges and universities as a business, but we have to be able to generate resources to reinvest in the institution — to pay faculty and staff to work and support our students.”
In this polarized political moment, internationally-focused colleges like Clark seem to have few allies at home.
“Oh, there is no one coming to save them now,” said Kelly McManus, Vice President of Higher Education at Arnold Ventures, a philanthropy focused on evidence-based policy.
McManus said higher education has changed little over the past 50 years, even as tuition prices have skyrocketed. She said college leaders “with the clearest eyes” are finally recognizing they need to adapt.
Institutional tuition discounts — what students actually pay after scholarships — have ballooned to record levels, according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers. At Clark, the average discount rate is more than 60%, which Fithian admits is “unsustainable.”
“We can’t reduce all of our costs,” he said. “To provide students with a great education, we can’t cut back on that.”
Robert Kelchen, a professor of higher education at the University of Tennessee, said colleges are already in a recession — and worse could follow.
“We’re seeing pressure on any federal funding, whether it’s research funding or potentially even financial aid for students,” he said. “We’re also seeing the possibility that international students will not be able to come to the United States.”
At Clark, those pressures are playing out in real time. Faculty are divided over the university’s restructuring plan.
“Some faculty are perfectly fine,” said Cyril Ghosh, a political science professor. “Some are like, ‘Oh, we don’t have enough data. We don’t know what to make of this,’ and some faculty say, ‘We’re adamantly opposed to this.’”
An immigrant from India, Ghosh came to America as a student in the early 2000s and chose to teach at Clark because of its international buzz.
“Internationalization is a good thing. I’m proud of the fact that I walk around campus and it’s extremely diverse,” he said while sitting near a statue on campus of Sigmund Freud, who gave his only U.S. lectures here in 1909.
But now, Ghosh fears the U.S. is ceding its place as a global education hub.
“The whole world thinks this,” he said, adding that Europeans and Canadians have capitalized on the opportunity to recruit scientists.
Despite the shifting landscape, he believes Clark — and colleges nationwide — should stay focused on their core mission: preparing students for work and global citizenship.
Fithian agreed, saying administrators and faculty are responsible for collectively saving themselves.
“I don’t think that we should count on others to come and save us,” he said.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
