Before coronavirus, many feared that more and more small colleges would go out of business, falling victim to overreliance on tuition, fewer traditional college-age students with changing preferences, and stale business models. Indeed, several small New England colleges have already merged or closed. Then came COVID-19 and widespread shutdowns, casting doubt on how and when students would dare physically congregate on reopened campuses. On top of that, entered a wave of protests highlighting anger, centuries in the making, at the lack of equality in the U.S. Through it all, the economy tanked. Strangely enough, however, those small colleges that began the crises already on the edge, have a few qualities that may help them respond effectively to COVID-19 in ways that many larger institutions cannot. Author and former Southern Vermont College President Karen Gross explains.

Keisha Venson Sheedy, an innovation analyst at Southern New Hampshire University, shares the story of the leader of a Black women’s student group who was not able to complete her undergraduate degree. She soon discovered that "being a student leader, and what you’ve undeniably learned, just doesn’t matter that much unless you’ve also graduated." She asks, "Has higher education told us that only those who do the work to finish the degree get to breathe freely?"