Dive Brief:
- Three community colleges in Maryland joined forces to renovate and share a health care education center in 2012 but announced last week the center would cease operations and each college would relocate its programs to its own campus.
- Inside Higher Ed reports the consortium will survive the center’s closure and students will still be able to take courses from partner institutions, but maintaining the center itself proved too expensive for Carroll, Frederick, and Howard Community Colleges.
- Student demand for the health care courses was high when the center opened, but as the economy improved, enrollments dipped — just like at other community colleges across the country — forcing the consortium’s cost-benefit equation to fall out of balance.
Dive Insight:
Many colleges and universities have looked to mergers, partnerships, and other forms of collaboration to find cost savings and increase their impact in a time of tough competition. Inside Higher Ed reports the type of physical center created by the three Maryland community colleges is not common among such partnerships. Often, cost savings come through economies of scale through partnerships that combine certain services, like IT. Other times, shared centers located on a single campus can heighten the stature of two institutions through research and policy accomplishments.
Public-private partnerships offer some of these opportunities, along with new revenue sources. A number of colleges and universities are privatizing housing or parking maintenance and operations and seeing financial benefits in return.