Many U.S. colleges and universities are rooted in decades or centuries of history, but not all stand the test of time. Whether it's due to low enrollment or financial instability, some schools are forced to merge in order to stay afloat – or they close altogether.

Between July 2004 and June 2020, nearly 12,000 college campuses closed, including both for-profits and nonprofits, according to the U.S. Department of Education's Postsecondary Education Participants System. Closures continue to hit college campuses, as many were unable to rebound from enrollment declines stemming from the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite greater concern about campus closures, on top of declining confidence in higher education due to political division, cost of attendance and issues of accessibility, experts say students shouldn't be discouraged from seeking postsecondary education.

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"It is still the key for long-term success and financial prosperity," says Theodore Richardson, dean of the Bisk College of Business at Florida Institute of Technology. "I firmly believe that education still is the gateway for success. It helps a more evolved society. It gets people into higher-paying jobs, therefore they pay more taxes, which enables the society to thrive and to do better. So we need more education, not less."

Here's what to know about factors that contribute to college closures, and warning signs to look out for.

Throughout the 2010s, college closures typically occurred in the private for-profit sector as a result of "impropriety of some kind, generally financial," says Rachel Burns, senior policy analyst at the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO).

"Institutions were closing down because they were losing accreditation because they had financial difficulties," she says. "Those closures tended to be pretty abrupt. Students were often transferred to one of dozens of branch campuses within the same system and they happened relatively quickly in response to some federal regulation."

However, since then, Burns says there's........

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