DC-Area College Drains 33% of Endowment in Bid to Lure Students

Across the Potomac River from Washington, DC, Marymount University — a small Catholic college — is doing everything it can to turn around its finances.

The school drained its already small endowment by one-third and cut some academic programs. It’s spending millions to spruce up dorms and is renting out office space to raise cash. Officials even established a high-end daycare that charges parents roughly $30,000 per year.

The measures offer a glimpse into how far some colleges around the US are going amid an increasingly challenged landscape for higher education. The number of high-school graduates is expected to ...