Decades of heavy spending followed by post-recession investment losses and declining state aid have left hundreds of colleges and universities on shaky financial ground, with potentially dire consequences for their local communities, writes The Wall Street Journal.

A survey of 1,692 private and public institutions by the consultancy Bain & Company and private-equity firm Sterling Partners found that more are third are significantly weaker financially than they were before the recession, with many burdened with high debts from the boom years.

Along with big tuition hikes, universities have slashed jobs, reducing the population, sales-tax revenue, and housing prices in college towns. Particularly hard hit are small and midsize cities that are home to second- and third-tier private schools.