\u201cOur students were telling us for several years now that they wanted to be in New York City,\u201d said James Kellerhouse, the assistant chancellor recruited to get the outpost off the ground. \u201cWe knew that because we were recruiting them from New York but they were coming back here after graduating.\u201d<\/p>\n
The headlines about the state of higher education in the United States have been dire. \u201cOnce globally prominent, U.S. universities are sliding into decline,\u201d proclaimed a headline<\/a> in the Hechinger Report earlier this month. Even well-known liberal arts colleges like Hampshire College<\/a> are closing.<\/p>\n Closer to home, the New School, in Greenwich Village, has offered buyouts, laid off 60 professors and staff and closed several academic departments in an effort to close a $50 million deficit. In Gramercy Park, the School of Visual Arts has seen enrollment drop by more than 30% since 2017 and is grappling with a $22 million deficit.\u00a0<\/p>\n And the pool of potential pupils is shrinking as the Trump administration<\/a> works to sharply reduce the number of international students coming to the United States while cutting federal funding for academic and scientific research.<\/p>\n But New York\u2019s college sector continues to grow as its major institutions power through the headwinds and new entrants either establish operations or merge their way into the city.<\/p>\n Employment at private colleges and universities in the city increased about 5% to a record 170,000 in April, according to the state Labor Department, while nationally higher ed jobs declined by 3%. The city\u2019s Economic Development Corp.<\/a> counted 516,000 college students in 2024, the most recently available numbers.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a flight to quality and students are choosing names they know,\u201d said Ed Venit, who has spent 20 years researching trends in higher education. \u201cColumbia, New York University, Fordham and St. John\u2019s all have brand names. You have Ivy League, Ivy League-adjacent and Fordham with its strong regional identity.\u201d<\/p>\n Vanderbilt illustrates why New York is so attractive to both students and the institutions recruiting them.<\/p>\n Start with the city\u2019s unrivaled attractions. On the first day of classes, the students went to the Upper West Side,\u00a0 SoHo, Little Italy, and Greenwich Village, in part by bus and Citibike. \u201cNew York is really their classroom,\u201d Kellerhouse said.<\/p>\n Internships are key for Vanderbilt and no place can offer more opportunities than New York. Vanderbilt\u2019s program requires a 20 to 25-hour-a-week internship and it established more than 140 for the first group of students, including at museums like the Whitney, the High Line, nonprofits like Safe Horizons and several law firms.<\/p>\n MORE: Inside NYC\u2019s K-Shaped Economy: A Few Do Well, Most Do Not<\/a><\/p>\n Vanderbilt counts 10,000 alumni working in New York, the highest number anywhere, an increase of almost 2,000 in recent years. The new campus will allow the school to strengthen its ties to that network.<\/p>\n Also crucial are the strong academic reputations of the city\u2019s other colleges and universities.<\/p>\n \u201cStudents who are paying for their education are voting with their feet,\u201d said Preston Cooper, an expert on higher education at the American Enterprise Institute. \u201cLower quality schools have seen a plunge in enrollment. Those with the best education have seen their enrollments grow.\u201d<\/p>\n Admittedly, not all schools in the city are thriving. The New School has seen its enrollment fall to 8,500<\/a> in the last academic year from slightly more than 10,000 in 2001 and its finances are shaky.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a flight to quality and students are choosing names they know.\u201d <\/p>\n Ed Venit, Higher education researcher<\/p><\/blockquote>\n For other institutions in trouble there are options. With its future in doubt, Marymount Manhattan College on the Upper East Side merged with Northeastern University of Boston, which is trying to build a bigger footprint by taking over small colleges across the country.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to be in New York,\u201d Northeastern President Joseph Aoun said when the deal was announced in 2024. \u201cNo institution, even the constellation of institutions that exists in New York, can meet all the needs.\u201d<\/p>\n Increasing the number of private colleges and universities in the city was a priority of the Adams administration, which in 2024 put out a major report<\/a> which said the sector contributed $35 billion a year to the city\u2019s economy. The new team at City Hall<\/a> is equally committed to the sector.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mamdani administration will continue building partnerships with our city\u2019s leading research and educational institutions to expand opportunities for working-class New Yorkers and ensure that New York remains a global destination for young talent,\u201d said spokesperson Cassio Mendoza.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/093022_22_columbia.jpg\")
Columbia University, pictured, and NYU haven\u2019t released 2026-27 enrollment numbers. The number of college students in New York City was estimated at 516,000 in 2024. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Dur\u00e1n\/THE CITY<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/120122_13_new_school_picket_.jpg\")
Adjunct professors of The New School on strike, Dec. 1, 2022. The university this year laid off professors and staff and closed several academic departments. Credit: Hiram Alejandro Dur\u00e1n\/THE CITY<\/p>\n\n
![\"Vanderbilt](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/082526_vanderbilt_ny_opening-6.jpg\")
Students stroll the new Vanderbilt University campus in Chelsea, Aug. 25, 2026. Credit: Alex Krales\/The City Reporter<\/p>\n