Old Main

About this book

"This perceptive account of small colleges in America draws on key data and firsthand observations to explain how and why, when it comes to colleges, size matters - to students, to faculty, to administrators, to education. Defined as institutions that enroll between five hundred and three thousand full-time students, small colleges number about six hundred in the United States. Many are thriving, while some - whether through low enrollment, ballooning debt, or simple misfortune - face uncertain futures." "Informed by his own experiences as a scholar and administrator, Samuel Schuman sketches the history and development of these institutions and then focuses on their current conditions and future possibilities. Administrators, faculty, and researchers will appreciate Schuman's insight into institutional choices and their consequences. Old Main is an essential book for anyone who shares the conviction that small colleges occupy a central place in American higher education."--Jacket.