As more colleges close, advocates are calling for them to be turned into housing

A shuttered college campus in Massachusetts is being overtaken by nature as overgrown weeds, ivy, and wildlife take over abandoned buildings and sports fields. With enrollment declining sharply, the former Eastern Nazarene College now stands empty, raising questions about the future of struggling higher education institutions. Advocates are pushing for repurposing closed campuses into affordable housing as a potential solution to the growing trend of college closures. The shift from academic use to alternative purposes reflects broader challenges facing small colleges across the country.

QUINCY, Mass. — Waist-high weeds climb through cracks in the tennis courts. Ivy snakes across the locked-shut entrance of a redbrick former women’s dormitory.  Canada geese graze on the baseball field. Wild turkeys scratch in the underbrush. Nature is reclaiming what remains of Eastern Nazarene College, which closed last year after its enrollment plummeted and […] The post As more colleges close, advocates are calling for them to be turned into housing appeared first on The Hechinger Report.