The Story of College Viability

College Viability was born out of my firsthand experience with how opaque— yet consequential — decision-making can be inside colleges and universities. As Chief of Staff to the President at a small Midwestern college, I saw the financial pressures, enrollment challenges, and operational tradeoffs that shape the future of an institution.

What struck me most was that the people with the most at stake—students, families, counselors, communities, and even faculty—rarely had access to clear, objective information that could help them understand a college’s true financial health and long-term viability.

That experience led me to ask an urgent question: Why are the people investing the most time and money in higher education often the last to know whether a college is financially stable, shrinking, merging, or at risk of closure?

After leaving that institution, I founded College Viability, LLC to improve transparency, accountability, and plain-language financial insight to a college marketplace too often driven by marketing narratives and a culture resistant to outside reality  — instead of measurable and comparable results.

Today, I help higher education professionals, counselors, students, and families interpret the measure that matter—graduation rates, enrollment trends, college debt, student earnings outcomes, and institutional viability. I am supported by my son, who has worked inside higher education as a faculty member, and contributes his experience and perspective on how institutional financial decisions directly affect academic programs and the student experience.

Together, we are committed to ensuring students don’t just start college—they finish with their goals intact, fully aware of both the opportunities and the risks associated with each college they consider. 

Our mission is simple: make the college decision based on informed consent.  We do this through data, clarity, and transparency.