Purpose of the Study
Today one important facet of private education is facing a
severe struggle for existance. The private junior college is decreasing
in number and enrollment while its public counterpart is
experiencing a growth and development that can be described as
phenomenal. Much material has been written which gives the criteria
for the establishment of public community colleges, but this criteria
is not completely appropriate for the private junior college. The
purpose of this study is to establish a model for determining the
feasibility of establishing a private junior college.
Procedures
Research procedures for this study primarily consisted of a review of the literature, sending letters to pertinent individuals and
organizations, developing and sending a questionnaire to private
junior colleges, and analyzing and tabulating the results of the questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to the presidents of 243
private junior colleges throughout the United States. One hundred
thirty-three of the administrators returned a total of 112 usable
questionnaires which were tabulated and used in this study.
Findings
A survey of pertinent literature and a study of the 112 returned
questionnaires shows the need for a study such as this. An examination
of the literature reveals several criteria which must be satisfied
if it is to be considered feasible to establish a new private junior
college. These major criteria are all included in the following seven categories: (1) philosophy, (2) general criteria, (3) students, (4)
staff, (5) curriculum, (6) finance, and (7) facilities.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The final conclusion of the thesis is that while there can be
no guarantee of success, adequate preparations including the use of
a feasibility study will result in a greater percentage of new private
junior colleges being successful. Recommendations for further studies designed to be of assistance to private junior colleges are
included in the final chapter
