A college advising company planned to release a list projecting when specific private colleges could run out of money and close, but pushback from the sector convinced the company to scuttle its plan.
The final straw was the letter a lawyer for a private nonprofit college sent just before 5 p.m. last Wednesday. It said any statement about the college facing an imminent risk of closure would be false.
“The publication of such a statement would be grossly irresponsible and would cause great harm to the college, and demand is hereby made that you refrain from such publication,” the lawyer wrote.
The letter followed a flurry of similar calls and emails from colleges and their representatives about a list a college advising company planned to release the next day. The list featured projections of how many years 946 private colleges have until they could run out of money and close.
This communiqué, however, was addressed in part to Edmit, the start-up advising company. The letter convinced Edmit’s two co-founders to scuttle the release of their financial modeling tool.