There is a gap between the growing desire to attend college and the shrinking ability to afford it, and it isn’t just theoretical. It’s becoming the central issue in the future of higher education. Even as institutions like our own try to manage budgets, realign staff, and update housing plans, the deeper concern is about whether the college model, as we know it, can remain sustainable.
According to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center collected in a Fall 2024 study, there has been a “5% year-over-year decline in enrollment for 18-year-old freshmen.” This is concerning given that college application numbers are actually increasing. The demand for higher education is still there, but the ability to access it is fading. It must be noted that financial burdens, not lack of academic interest, are driving students away.
In 2023, the Supreme Court blocked President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, which would have provided up to $20,000 in relief for borrowers who received Pell Grants. More recently, the “Saving on a Valuable Education” (SAVE) repayment plan has also faced serious legal and political roadblocks. These actions leave many current and prospective students with rising debt and no meaningful way out.
Meanwhile, the political climate surrounding higher education has only grown more hostile. This past year, President Trump’s administration cut over $2 billion in federal funding to Harvard University and threatened to revoke its tax-exempt status. Harvard rejected demands that would compromise academic freedom, prompting further federal retaliation. As Harvard Law professor Nikolas Bowie warned, “For us to change what we think is important, because of prevailing orthodoxy in the White House, would turn Harvard’s pursuit of truth…to just pursuit of popular opinion.”
For students from DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) backgrounds, the stakes are even higher. The same report that shows a 5% drop in 18-year-old freshmen enrollment also reveals that cost is the number one barrier for adults who aren’t currently enrolled. Many students from historically underrepresented communities find themselves caught between the dream of upward mobility through education and the immediate financial needs of their families. As CEO of Common App, Jenny Rickard, notes, the problem isn’t lack of interest. There’s actually a 12% increase in applicants from low and middle-income families. The problem is affordability. And as the cost of attending continues to rise, even a school like F&M, with generous financial aid, may struggle to remain accessible to the very students it aims to empower.
This brings me back to Franklin & Marshall. President Barbara Altmann announced back in August, before the Fall 2024 semester commenced, that she would be retiring her position in July 2025. This news was not concerning to me at first, but after a closer inspection of the year’s new staff and faculty departures and hires, structural changes, and the broader challenges facing college education, I find myself wondering about the security of higher learning itself.
In early September of last semester, the departure of former Dean of Students Colette Shaw was announced. This farewell, along with President Altmann’s, marked the beginning of a transitional moment for our institution. Since then, F&M has introduced a new housing plan for the 2025–26 academic year, which includes the addition of a “live-in College House Director” in Brooks, Bonchek, and Ware College Houses. Additionally, in an effort to maintain financial stability, the College has implemented staff position eliminations, employment changes, and tuition and fee adjustments. As President Altmann stated in a letter to the F&M community, “As part of this realignment effort, fewer than 20 staff members are leaving F&M today – Wednesday, April 2, 2025 – due to position eliminations. In addition, some staff positions were changed from 12-month employment to 10-month.”
.Other valuable staff members, such as Dr. Gretchel Hathaway, Vice President for Community and Belonging, also recently announced her retirement from the institution, effective July 30. Lastly, at the start of the Spring 2025 semester, the College announced that Andrew Rich would serve as F&M’s 17th president. He brings with him experience and skill, and I’m hopeful that he can help our institution navigate this evolving educational landscape.
Therefore, this academic calendar year, in my opinion, has been marked as a transitional episode for Franklin & Marshall College.
So yes, the changes at Franklin & Marshall including staff retirements, new leadership, housing updates may look ordinary from the outside. But they are part of a larger moment of reckoning. As a student who believes in the value of higher learning, I worry. Not just about who teaches here or who leads our institution, but about whether this model of education can survive the mounting pressures of politics, economics, and inequality.
We are in a period of transformation—not just at F&M, but across the country. The question isn’t whether higher education will change. It already is. The question is: who will still be able to afford to be part of it?
Zach Long is the News Editor. His email is zlong@fandm.edu.