Private colleges grew revenue last year — but not by enough, Fitch says
Ben Unglesbee
June 24, 2026
Costs, competition and ‘adversarial federal policy’ are weighing heavily on private colleges, according to analysts with the credit ratings agency.
Dive Snapshot:
Private colleges face a deteriorating outlook as inflation outpaces rising tuition revenue and institutions navigate myriad other operating challenges, according to a report Tuesday from Fitch Ratings.
In fiscal 2025, private colleges rated by Fitch had a median operating margin of -0.5%. Those margins were “strained as inflationary, labor and other expense pressures persisted,” Fitch analysts said in the report.
Along with cost increases, analysts pointed to demographic shifts, limited revenue growth, rising tuition discounts and an “adversarial federal policy environment.”
