This place opened in 1991, they spent $60+ million on it, and they're ready to tear it down. Makes sense.

Those Cleveland Tourism video is really paying off (NSFW: language)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzgAjjuqZM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysmLA5TqbIY

Edited to add in the original Cleveland Tourism Video.

Why are applications down?

The current president and board signaled their intent to rename the university, which alienated many alumni and Akron residents who might have intended to send their kids there. Donations were down 37% year over year, as well, at last report.

Then they backpedaled on the name change and came up with a "rebranding" as "Ohio's Polytechnic University." There was an immediate backlash, particularly from current and prospective students interested in Arts and Sciences. The university has in fact defunded several A&S programs and cut back on full-time faculty.

Then they announced a major push to become a leading player in online education, and approached ITT Tech about a merger/acquisition. ITT is under Federal investigation for fraud. More alienation of alumni and other supporters.

They fired all of their academic advisors prior to this school year, replacing them with an outside firm that had never provided academic services. Turns out the owner of that firm is now under indictment.

They are sending very strong signals to the marketplace...and none of them good.

Because the pool of applicants is shrinking in Ohio and there are winners and losers in terms of enrollment. Akron is getting killed by growth at Kent and CSU but it's not alone as a shrinking state school. Only a handful of state schools are growing or holding steady and Ohio is lucky to be one of them.

Wolstein was planned in a time when Cleveland had no downtown arena and was a white elephant as soon as the Cavs moved from Richfield. It sits one mile from a bigger and better venue and always will.

I disagree. In the environment we are entering, there is something wrong with that.

The landscape of higher education is shifting drastically. Online offerings are advancing from every direction. Major institutions and online-only startups are both offering coursework online in record numbers. This trend isn't going to reverse.

The loser in this environment is commuter schools. The entire selling point of commuter schools is that they offer a cheaper and more convenient alternative to what residential campuses offer. By cutting out the residential component of college life, they can offer cheaper education than a residential campus. It isn't that hard to see where online really bites into this apple... Online can undercut commuter schools big-time. Online isn't going to replace the "experience" of college that you get at a residential school, but it'll absolutely replace the low-cost commuting alternative. And now, you don't even have to commute 15 minutes to Akron, you can do it in your own living room.

I don't think Akron's leadership has handled this transition well, but I also don't think they had the choice of remaining a commuter school. Commuter schools hit an iceberg. Not enough lifeboats. Yikes.