🏛️ U.S. Collegiate Deathpool
The U.S. Collegiate Deathpool is a data-driven tool designed to identify and compare the survivability of private, not-for-profit universities across the United States.
Our research indicates that as many as 1 in 4 private institutions may not survive by 2028. This tool enables users to explore institutional risk through a custom-built Collegiate Survivability Index (CSI) that integrates:
🧱 What We're Ranking
Each university is scored across three key dimensions:
- Adjusted Composite Financial Index (aCFI): A financial stability score that modifies the traditional CFI by removing depreciation and including restricted net assets. It provides a clearer picture of how a university might actually respond in a financial crisis.
- Academic Efficiency: Measures how effectively an institution deploys its academic resources, including graduation rates, student-to-faculty ratio, and degrees awarded per faculty member.
- Market Saturation: Assesses how crowded a university's local market is. It considers the number of competing institutions, the population of 15–19-year-olds in the state, and the number of first-time, full-time students at the institution.
These three elements are combined to create a total survivability score known as the Collegiate Survivability Index (CSI).
🎓 University Survivability Map (Tier 1)
Welcome to the Tier 1 interactive map. This tool displays 2028 projections for financial strength, market saturation, and academic efficiency for over 800 private universities in the U.S.
📱 Mobile Users: For the best experience, please rotate your phone to landscape mode when viewing the map.
🚧 Tier 2 Access Coming Soon
Tier 2 will unlock deeper insights—including full metric breakdowns for each institution, regional clustering tools, and comparative analysis features. We're building it now.
💸 Why Tier 2 will require a fee: The cost of data hosting, software licensing, and map development adds up. We’re committed to keeping it affordable, but we need to ensure it’s sustainable.
If you're interested in early access or supporting the project, please email us at universitydeathpool@gmail.com or fill out this short survey to let us know.
🙏 Your interest helps guide development and ensure we prioritize the features that matter most to our users.
🔍 How to Use the Interactive Map
The map below allows you to explore university survivability in an interactive format:
- 🔍 Zoom in to any region of the U.S.
- 🏫 Click on a university pin to open detailed metrics
- 🔢 View values for:
- aCFI (Adjusted Financial Health)
- Academic Efficiency
- Market Saturation
- CSI (Total Survivability Score)
Color shading indicates relative health: the cooler the color, the stronger the institution's survivability.
🌐 Explore the Map
This map will be updated regularly as new data is released, institutions close, and metrics evolve. Stay tuned as we continue to track, interpret, and visualize the health of higher education in America.
Disclaimer: All rankings are based on publicly available data and percentile-based models for research purposes. See full disclaimer at universitydeathpool.com/disclaimer