Private US Colleges Are On Shaky Financial Footing

Amid shrinking enrollment and federal cuts, scores of private colleges are on shaky financial footing.

In Forbes’ annual ranking of College Financial Grades, which evaluates the financial health of over 900 private not-for-profit colleges, more than 25% of institutions received our lowest grade of D—the worst performance since our assessment began in 2013. A long-predicted demographic cliff, families opting out of pricey private schools and loan limits in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act are all factors.

Still, elite, highly selective colleges from MIT to Minnesota’s St. Olaf College continued to show strength, with more than 100 schools earning an A+.

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First Up

• The U.S. military launched “self-defense” strikes against Iran on Monday, just hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested to reporters that news on a peace deal between the two countries was close.
• Pope Leo XIV warned that humanity is using artificial intelligence, mass automation and rapid technological advancement to build a modern “Tower of Babel,” sharing a bleak vision of the world in his first encyclical.

Business + Finance

Pre-rolled joints are the $30 billion cannabis industry’s best-selling category, and startup Natura has become a major player in the space with its sports-inspired brand Sluggers Hit. The company’s best-selling product is a pack of pre-rolls in a tin wrapped in a metallic bag similar to how collectible sports cards are packaged, and the company is on track to hit $85 million in revenue by the end of the year.

Wealth + Entrepreneurship

Bush Brothers sells 80% of America’s canned baked beans, and now its fourth-generation chairman Drew Everett wants Bush’s to be known as just America’s Bean Company. Market tailwinds are helping the family-owned business, which has grown into an estimated $1 billion (annual revenue) company, as more people prioritize affordability and health in the GLP-1 era.

Tech + Innovation

Venture capitalist John Doerr said that artificial intelligence has actually been “underhyped,” and argued that the general public still does not grasp the impact AI will have on the world. Doerr, whose early investments in Amazon and Google helped underwrite the modern internet, told The Wall Street Journal that AI is the “biggest tsunami” of innovation he’s ever tracked in his more than four decades of investing.

Travel + Lifestyle

Ahead of America’s 250th anniversary celebration this summer, Forbes Travel Guide compiled a list of uniquely American getaways in all 50 states that allow travelers to explore the country’s diverse landscapes. From adventures in historic national parks to stays on luxurious islands, here’s your ultimate cross-country travel bucket list.

Some of the richest Americans have begun collecting multiple citizenships amid increasing geopolitical uncertainty, investment migration experts tell Forbes. More than six in 10 Americans earning more than $200,000 annually are considering moving abroad within five years, as the U.S. has passed China as the largest market for clients seeking second or third citizenships, according to investment advisory expert Eric Major.

Inside The Murky Market Selling Pre-IPO SpaceX And OpenAI Shares

Ordinary investors can now buy pre-IPO shares in the largest and hottest startups on the planet through firms like Austin-based Augment.

Augment isn’t charting a new path here. People have been trading private-company paper since well before Facebook’s 2012 IPO. But the AI boom seems to be turning the side door into more of a front entrance. The reason is simple: Hot tech companies are staying private longer and VCs are pocketing much more of the value. Buying Apple at its IPO price and waiting a few decades was once a viable retirement plan. Buying a $1 trillion company at IPO and waiting for it to triple is not. The biggest gains now happen years before the prospectus is filed.

Enter the special-purpose vehicle, or SPV: a fund built to pool money from many parties into a single asset. The SPV is a regulatory workaround that helps companies stay private longer without disclosing any financials, because hundreds of people can aggregate their shareholding into a single vehicle on the cap table. And importantly, the SPV marketplace allows for company insiders—including their billionaire founders—to cash out secretly without spooking the market.

It’s a major step toward a worthy goal: democratizing private-company ownership. The more people can share in private markets’ gargantuan economic gains, the better. But without consistent rules and active regulators, the market for pre-IPO shares risks turning into a playground for scammers.

WHY IT MATTERS In some ways, SPVs are the SPACs of 2026: a boom market in access, with enough legitimate promise to attract serious money but where those raising the capital can get an easy score at the expense of the retail investor.

MORE The OpenAI Graveyard: All The Deals And Products That Haven’t Happened

FACTS + COMMENTS

SpaceX’s filing to take the company public included a list of compensation rewards for CEO Elon Musk, who could add billions to his fortune if the company achieves a number of specific milestones:

Nearly 1 billion: The number of SpaceX shares Musk would be awarded as part of his compensation package if SpaceX reaches certain goals, such as establishing a “permanent human colony” on Mars

302 million: How many shares the world’s richest man would receive should the company develop “non-Earth-based” data centers

$827.7 billion: Musk’s net worth as of Monday

STRATEGY + SUCCESS

The vast majority of companies are now using some form of AI to screen applicants, and while many candidates dread the idea of interviewing with AI, there are ways to prepare strategically. AI agents tend to cover more ground in a job interview than a human recruiter, which means more of your relevant background could surface. The technology also prefers more detailed responses when giving examples of particular projects.

VIDEO

QUIZ

The high cost of World Cup tickets has been a talking point in recent weeks, and the mayor of a U.S. host city secured a concession from FIFA for a pool of $50 tickets to be distributed via a lottery. Which city was it?

A. Atlanta

B. New York City

C. Miami

D. Seattle

Check your answer.

Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire and Chris Dobstaff.