With the high cost of tuition and a smaller pool of students, some liberal arts schools are struggling to survive, and not all of them will as our scott cohn found, many colleges are making major changes, and its this weeks cover story. At Hiram College outside cleveland, with about 1,000 students, they knew small liberal arts schools were not exactly in vogue their solution change the definition of liberal arts we looked at the curriculum, we looked at the graduation requirements, we looked at technology, we looked at the 21st century skillset and mindset that students need to demonstrate to employers reporter gone are stodgy old majors like art history and religion in are more careeroriented majors like criminal justice and sport management i think they do a really good job of preparing you for your career but also in life. Reporter hirams president says the changes, which have also included reducing the faculty by 20 , helped convince lenders to refinance 25 million in longterm debt and put the school on solid financial footing. But other schools are having a more difficult time. It is the other college debt crisis, the schools. Credit Rating Agency moodys says one in five small private colleges is under fundamental Financial Stress many wont survive demographics are changing. Fewer students are graduating high school. Those that do are increasingly looking for more careeroriented colleges when all is said and done, in 2019, 15 small private colleges will likely have shut down three times the rate a decade ago. And this could be the new normal it is here to stay. I think we see the Higher Education sector as in a period of real transformation in terms of how students learn, where they learn reporter and some schools are closing with little warning. Like Mount Ida College in massachusetts last year. I didnt get the degree i didnt get the diploma i am cheated reporter experts say before deciding where to go to College Students and parents should be asking not just about Financial Aid but also about the schools finances is the college able to pay its debts . Is the college in Good Relationship with its bank has the college received a clean bill of health from its creditors . Reporter it could be the difference between just getting into college and being able to finish your degree there for on the money, scott cohn, hiram, ohio. So how many schools are in difficult financial shape . Rob franek is the Princeton Reviews editor in chief thanks for being here today. Good to be here, becky. Lets talk about the idea of the small liberal arts schools actually being in trouble. How big of a problem is this well, it is a significant problem, and moodys is citing were going to see about 15 School Closings per year going forward, compared to 2003 where it was two or three schools closing a year but theres two things to remember there are two shifts that are really happening in the collegegoing population, a demographic shift and a population shift and that is causing a decrease in many schools, particularly in the midwest and northeast. I dont get that. How difficult it is to get into schools these days versus when i was applying to get into school, and it seems to me theres more and more competition, seems theres more and more kids going to college well, youre right. In the numbers overall there are 3. 4 Million Students that graduated from High School Just this last year its going to top off at about 3. 5 million in 2024, 25 but the truth is those demographic shifts population shifts are happening were seeing huge populations happening in the south and west and decreased populations in the northeast. So is it just the kids dont want to go to these Small Schools anymore and how much is it what the schools are offering in terms of their curriculum and how much of it is these kids want to go to school where they have like fabulous gyms, huge dining halls, all the amenities with brand new dorms well, i think amenities play a part in it but what students are biggest what their fears are, students and parents, are that theyre going to assume too much debt when they graduate from college. So i think students are much more pragmatic in thinking of what majors theyre going to have, what careers its going to lead into, and that having that as part of the process and discussion and sticking around to see if a school is going to be right for them. Thats different than lets face, it a lot of these small liberal arts schools are pretty expensive, pretty pricey. Incredibly expensive. Two to three times the rate of inflation. Schools have increased their tuition every year annually for the last 20. How come they are continuing to raise costs, raise tuition, and somehow these smaller schools arent able to manage to make ends meet whats going on . Schools will tell you that its an incredibly difficult venture to maintain such a hiram that we just saw in the package did some things a few schools are doing as well, decreasing their tuition to make it affordable for students and parents. Because theres a lot of tuition discounting, theyre bringing those things down to a reasonable sum and making it appealing for students this is kind of scary if you are actually out there considering schools right now. The advice we gave in the package was make sure that the schools finances are okay how do you do that because its not like theyre going to advertise that very openly youre right. Youre probably not going to dig into the moodys rating but what you can look at are overall enrollment rates, are they going up or down over the last five years, are students persisting, successfully graduating in four or five years and are they getting jobs on graduation where do you go to find that . Princeton review offers absolutely. This is the homework we do at Princeton Review all the time on a little over 3,000 schools. And i think that thats interesting because then you can dig into those schools in great breadth and depth. How does this match up with i guess the state school finances . You think about them, a lot of them are having issues with their budgets too because their budgets have been cut by the state since the great recession. We see that in particular in states like california probably the most dramatic of an example. But the truth is 70 of all students will stay within 100 miles or three hours driving distance are of their home many of them will go to their own state or City University those schools are likely going to have an increase in their student population because of the lower tuition and likely the placement rate the schools that are closing are just in the wrong location wrong locations and if they are liberal arts schools that are not for profit and private theyre going to be competing against a lot of other schools that have much different competition. Rob, thank you very much. Good to be here good to see you up next, were on the money. Car repair on call a new tech startup that sends a mechanic to you. And later, a bank in your pocket the new way to manage your money that uses only your mobile phone. Sounds convenient, but it may not be for everyone. Right now lets take a look at how the stock market ended the week you can call an uber to get a ride, but if you have your own car and need a repair theres a new app that will send a mechanic to you, to your home or to your office ed petersen is the cofounder and ceo of wrench. Ed, thanks for being with us yeah, no problem. Great to be here it makes obvious sense. It would be really nice to have a mechanic come to me instead of having to go somewhere how did you come up with the idea and how does it work . Really its out of consumer frustration. That was really the original driver for it. We thought that theres really two core problems we want to solve for people one is transparency, which really drives trust, right theres a big trust issue in this industry. The other is convenience really its just a hassle. You will never meet anyone that enjoys dealing with the process. And i feel like, by the way, when i take it there, it may be days before i get it back. And thats the transparency youre wondering whats going on i im not going to stay at my office or my house for days. So im guessing its faster service. The average job, though, is really about two hours even if you take it to a shop. Its just when they get to it. What weve done is used a lot of technology and pulling a lot of data to try to streamline that process. Were on the logistics side of if, around the scheduling side of it, but then to your point most importantly we deploy a wrench technician on site to your house, to your office, to your business, if its a fleet, to perform all the maintenance and repair heres what i dont get if its so hard to find a mechanic in a shop who can service my vehicle in a timely manner, where do you find these mechanics . Why are they willing to go mobile yeah. Its one of the things we really focused on and spent a lot of time working on in the beginning, is what is our offering to a technician right and its a skilled position i mean, if you look at a vehicle, its an unbelievably complex thing. You really have to understand what youre doing to be able to fix a vehicle. And what we have done is given them really ownership in a real sense of part of the team. So we hire them, we theyre not contractors theyre not contractors it is not what you would call your traditional gig economy its not a commodity thing so with that you get the technicians that want to be out talking to customers they want to interact. They like the variety of things. And it really has worked well. They enjoy the mobile environment. How much do they make relative to what they might make in a shop . Its actually right on par. Generally thats not the reason why they come to us. They come to us because they like the freedom they like the ability to interact with customers. They can work whatever hours they want . They can. We do Schedule Base things they do like structure we give them equity in the company, though. They have stock options. Were a tech company in our dna. Youre not publicly traded, though we are not. Were a startup. Weve gone through a couple rounds of Venture Investment and the company is growing really well how many mechanics do you have working for you and where are they were in about 20 markets mostly up and down the west coast. Sort of your four big cities in texas, dallas, houston, san antonio, austin. Were in the four big cities, if you will, in florida with miami, orlando, tampa, jacksonville and then atlanta, charlotte, and then phoenix and vegas and chicago. How much does it cost me yeah, so its really on par with an independent shop were generally cheaper than a dealer but again, we really sell on providing a service thats convenient thats really our driving factor what kind of repairs can they do coming to me . What might be something they couldnt do that i would need to go to a shop for we do, if you think about this, about 80 to 85 of the things you that take your vehicle flashing light goes off in car, oh, no, what do i do about 85 of the time we can come to your house, come to your office, and solve that problem for you. Were not pulling an engine or doing welding work or things like that. Sure. But everything else, your mileagebased services, brakes, fuel pump, alternator, all the things you go through on your car we can do on location. It sounds perfect hurry up and launch on the east coast. Were working on it ed, thank you for your time thank you up next were on the money. Never have time to go to the bank well, from apple to tmobile, a new crop of companies is getting into the banking business with the promise of making managing your money easier. And later, the man known as mr. Chocolate will bring us his latest creations for the holidays we call it the mother standard of care. Its how we bring hope to our patients like viola. Her team treated her cancer and strengthened her spirit. So viola could focus on their future. Cancer Treatment Centers of america. Appointments available now. Introducing a razor that works differently. America. The Gillette Skinguard has a guard between the blades that helps protect skin. The Gillette Skinguard. Looking around here i see tablets, laptops, printers, smartphones. Theyre all connected to the internet. Theyre all connected. Can your network handle all those devices . Sometimes. Comcast business runs on the nations largest gigspeed network. So you can get the bandwidth you need to power all of your devices at peak performance. If all of my devices could have that kind of speed, i would be dancing get started with secure 35megabit internet and one voice line for just 64. 90 per month. Call today. Comcast business. Beyond fast. Tech Companies Big and small are getting into the banking business theyre offering various products and services, things like credit cards and Checking Accounts but before opening up one of these new accounts its important that you think about how you bank joining us right now with more on this is our Senior Personal finance correspondent Sharon Epperson sharon, hello. Hello nice to see you in person good to see you in person too. Lets talk about this new breed of banks, how do they work, how are they different from brick and mortar ones people may have heard google announcing its going to have Checking Accounts coming up or apples new credit card. A lot of fin Tech Companies, Financial Technology companies, theyre innovative, theyre into Digital Technology and they want to get into banking as well. And many banks are partnering with these fin Tech Companies to offer the services a lot of people want right away on their phones what are the benefits you get if you sign up for one of these new things there are many benefits and many different players in this market probably about 40. What theyre calling challenger banks that are in the u. S. Some of the bigger ones are ones like chime or betterment actually has a money app also. No branches with this this is strictly over your phone. No branches tmobile is even offering Banking Services and Refinancing Company sofi also has a place where you can get savings accounts and things like that. Why is it better than a bank . Lower cost. You know, people always want a higher rate of return on their savings, which they will likely get with one of these banks. No fees. So overall costs are lower what type of rates are we talking . Interest rates are so low right now, you get next to nothing for a Checking Account near 2 the reality is the thing to keep in mind is the way theyre able to do this theyre not actual banks sometimes, theyre partnering with an fdic insured bank but theyre able to not have the brick and mortar expenses and other expenses that some of the bigger banks have. And by doing all this digitally mobile technology, theyre able to have lower fees do i get to use the banks structure of the banks they partner with or im not allowed to set foot into any of the this is a Branchless Bank youre working with a Branchless Bank that is what some people are saying is the drawback no Human Interaction the fact that you are looking at limited product offerings, its just going to be checking, youre just going to go there for savings sometimes. And potentially higher risks there are risks involved with many things, but one thing an analyst pointed out to me, its important to understand if its partnered with an fdic insured bank the deposits are still backed, right . Theyre backed. But how long does it take to get them from the time you deposit them is it immediate . And because theyre startup companies, many of them, there is that potential for failure. In that period of time wheres your money even if they failed your deposits would still be backed by that are already in there but im saying as theyre making that youve just deposited money. How quickly is it right there in the bank in that partner bank to make sure and accessible to you to make sure its federally insured . Thats one of the questions you want to ask. You want to make sure its partnered with an fdic insured bank, you want to make sure your deposits get there in a very timely fashion you also want to assess yourself, do you need to talk to somebody or are you fine doing Financial Management by yourself on the phone you dont need any help and what services . And what services, i want to go to the same bank with my credit card, where my savings account is, Checking Account, my mortgage, student loan, all of that thats probably not going to be one of these if youre somebody spending a lot of time in these branches, probably not for you exactly sharon, thank you good to see you. Good to see you too up next on the money, a look at the news for the week ahead. And gourmet gifts for everyone on your list new tasty treats from our friend Jacques Torres, mr. Chocolate. I. 12 hours . 20 dogs . Wheres your belly rubs . After a day of chasing dogs you shouldnt have to chase down payments. vo send invoices and accept payments to get paid twice as fast. danny its time to get yours vo quickbooks. Backing you. Looking to simplify your skin care routine without sacrificing results . Try olay total effects. One dose provides more vitamin b3 than 50 cups of kale and improves 7 key areas of visibly healthy skin. Try olay total effects. Here are the stories coming up that may impact your money this week. On monday well get the ism manufacturing numbers for december well see the number of new homes under construction with novembers housing starts. And on thursday well see how many existing homes were actually sold last month friday well get the final read on the Third Quarter gdp plus well see how much americans brought home with the personal income report for november and its time to dig it out of your closet once again its National Ugly christmas sweater day. The time for Holiday Shopping is running out. If you are scrambling for lastminute gift ideas, well, our next guest, known as mr. Chocolate, has you covered joining us right now is chocolatier, business owner, and host of the netflix show nailed it Jacques Torres happy to be here. I love this time of year when we get to talk to you. Is this your busiest time of the year right now christmas is the biggest holiday for you us its actually pretty long. That holiday go for four weeks and we get multiple order online, in the store so yeah, this is the busiest holiday. The second one will be valentine. The third one will be easter . Easter. You know them all. And then mothers day and those other holiday. But we cannot miss christmas thats very important. Christmas, hanukkah. Very important day what kind of traffic do you get in the stores versus how much you sell online at this point . If i look at the trend the store actually are not really growing much or some of them actually declining. Some of them are growing a little bit so its pretty flat. The site misterchocolate. Com, is growing every year thats a good sign we are between 15 to 20 growth every year but you know, its one website versus seven stores. So we really need to boost that, try to boost it a little more. Lets talk about the innovations youve made in chocolate because youve got some new products i havent seen before what are those little cakes . Those are travel cakes, cake de voyage we call it in french you can put it in a bag. Its a little chocolate cake orange we have different flavor or you can have that at home on the plate that you cut nicely and eat with knife and fork. Its not going to get all melted if i put it in my bag and take it with me . If its not that hot outside, it should be okay. This is the holiday one. It has hazelnuts in it excellent it would be nicer with a knife but its you can eat it like that. Thats just fine like this. That is really good. Im taking a second bite this is hazelnuts very delicious. Its so soft and moist mm the shelf life is a little bit more than a week so its great. What about some of the printing stuff that you have 3d printing this is we do 3d printing. This is something that well print. You see the final product. We print it with a 3d printer then we make a mold with something called a vacuum form machine. And then we will put the chocolates in here and then this is the final result so we can do things a lot faster it used to be that the sculptor going to show you different models you were doing it by hand before yes it used to be done by hand so now we can do the 3d printing and we also now going to another technology where we can print with natural food color directly into the chocolates. This is different innovation that we are doing this year. This is the first year that we are doing it do i get my own print or i can pick out whatever i want i can put your face in there. I can put the family dog whatever people want we can do it thats pretty cool. Personalization. Thats a big deal too, right ive seen more and more people want to see their name, personalization, special events. You know, this is great. And thats something that we start to do now more and more. Im going to take a sip of this this is your fancy pants hot chocolate . Hot chocolate with a little bit of mint or candy cane in it. Great for the holiday. That is rich. When its cold outside, you know, you crave for that the hot chocolate keep you warm. Thats basically the idea here we do we sell a lot of the hot chocolates and of course the cookies. We do the same thing with the cookies. We put some candy cane crunch on top of the cookies and bake them the candy cane kind of melt. We have it next to you its a perfect description but i think i need to taste it to see what it really tastes like let me see oh, thats delicious what are your bestsellers the bestseller will be definitely the box of chocolates the cookies are there too. And of course the hot chocolate. During the holiday the hot chocolate with the mint and the candy cane, oh, my god, our customer love that we do a lot of figure, things like that, where we have beautiful chocolate tree, santa, snowman. Those are the hollow figure we sell during the holidays what about chocolate prices, just Commodity Prices . Were not really impacted by that we pay two to three time the average price because we want quality. Jacques, thank you. Always love seeing you always happy to see you mr. Chocolate thank you for bringing all of this and we hope to see you again soon that is our show for today im becky quick. Thank you so much for joining us next week weve got kid food forget about the french fries and chicken nuggets. How to get your kids to eat healthy without even knowing it. Each week keep it here were on the money. Have a great one and we will see you next weekend. Well, happy friday the 13th. Options action fans and welcome, im Brian Sullivan in for melissa tonight. We have a big show for you here is your lineup. I got 2,000 blank American Express cards right now. Go. Thats not the best way to make money on American Express but thanks to todays trade news, dan nathan has a safer way. Then im talking about a lot of benjamins to be made with the biotech stuff. Yup when it comes up like this at family functions, you know its probably time to bail. Carter worth opines on taking a