The acupuncture and naturopathic community should understand the extreme risk that currently exists for students at many of the schools. I graduated from the NUNM ND program in June 2025 and the College Viability analysis confirms what I saw. Relocation was presented as a big, positive change, yet has now been ongoing for 4 years. NUNM planned to merge with Bastyr but that was called off, probably because Bastyr was too far gone. And now NUNM is clearly not a good merger partner either. Property depreciation without upkeep is a problem across the higher ed sector but NUNM is a notable example. Multnomah County property tax records for the July 2024 sale of 16 S Meade (https://www.portlandmaps.com/detail/assessor/16-S-MEADE-ST/R128820_did/) show that the building was sold for about 2.5M less than it was purchased for in December 2007, without even adjusting for inflation. A lack of realistic planning got NUNM to where it is today, but what’s really distressing is the ongoing lack of realistic planning while avoiding the obvious crisis of a defunct business model. The Fall 2026 federal graduate loan caps mean either private loans for living expenses and/or tuition reduction, but how can tuition be meaningfully reduced at a university in poor financial condition? If there’s no way to ensure a realistic three year plan, then it’s time to look at a dignified closure with a teachout year and severance packages. Sadly, the more likely scenario is an OCOM, Bastyr, NUNM trilogy.
Ryan, I appreciate you bringing up the risk to students because I agree, in all of the hand wringing about the state of the profession, I don't see people being concerned enough about students who are going to end up stranded when programs collapse. You know the expression, drive it like you stole it? This is kind of like, Administer it like you stole it. It's the opposite of dignified closure and thoughtful planning, it's driving down a dead end road at top speed, tires squealing and the engine smoking, until the wheels fall off. The problem is, there are students in the car.
If the worst happened for POCA Tech, it wouldn't be difficult to do a teach out. It wouldn't be *fun* but it would be possible -- because it would mirror exactly what we had to do to get the school off the ground, ten+ years ago. We'd have a handful of people working really hard for almost no money (which I know is what people think we're doing now, and that's true to a certain degree, but we could do it even harder if we had to). But it requires being honest about the fact that you're operating on a shoestring and so far I don't see anybody but us being willing to do that.
The business model is an example of how the Professional Managerial Class (PMC) has de-risked their careers by shifting precarity onto the vulnerable. Oh, we feel so bad about it but we couldn't possibly choose solidarity with the students and the majority of practitioners.
Behaving as though a naturopathic and/or aupuncture graduate degree is a solid investment for individuals from marginalized groups. Is that anti-solidarity?
I don't think it's a solid investment for *anybody*. It's a "business opportunity". If you want a (small) business opportunity, great! Small business is really good for some people (speaking from experience). But it should be clearly labeled, which is what we are trying to do at POCA Tech.
BTW I'm not saying you are acting like it's a good investment, I'm saying that's part of the fantasy coming from many acupuncture and naturopathic schools.
Adminning (adwinning!?) on borrowed time! There's a fantasy that these schools can operate like other universities while somehow defying all the sector-wide variables causing larger schools with endowments to close. Part of the fantasy is behaving as though faculty can acquire a professional, upper middle class life instead of acknowledging that teaching at these schools is a labor of love. Cockroachy love.
There are maybe a handful of people who have managed to create professional upper-middle class lives for themselves in the context of acupuncture and naturopathy. Some of them have great entrepreneurial skills, some of them got lucky, some of them exploited people. Everybody else has to choose between cockroach love and getting out of the field altogether. It's long past time to be honest about that.
*A lean, little, heart-powered & agile smoking gun there. Really grateful for POCA! Closing NUNM would be a big loss, but if we step back and look at the larger economic situation (that's been observable really for at least a decade now), then I think gratitude for such an adaptive alternative makes a lot of sense.
It's incredibly frustrating that the administrations of these programs were so disconnected from what was happening among their grads and bought their own marketing. There were warning signs for at least a decade. The pandemic might have accelerated the fall, but we were already in the downward slope before it hit. The additional of the doctoral degrees bought the schools time because they could get income from practitioners already invested in the field. But eventually that revenue stream slowed to a trickle. People thinking about entering the profession were told that without the doctorate and without herbal training their options would be limited, so those who might have sprung for a Masters had every reason to reconsider. The programs brought this upon themselves.
Thanks for the chance to share this analysis, Lisa. These financial patterns matter for the future of the whole profession. I love the footnote you added!
Thanks, Bex, and thanks for breaking down the NUNM numbers! I was thinking, "maybe unlike OCOM they sold their fancy building in time" but that's not going to matter if everybody's in denial about the rest of the financial picture.
The acupuncture and naturopathic community should understand the extreme risk that currently exists for students at many of the schools. I graduated from the NUNM ND program in June 2025 and the College Viability analysis confirms what I saw. Relocation was presented as a big, positive change, yet has now been ongoing for 4 years. NUNM planned to merge with Bastyr but that was called off, probably because Bastyr was too far gone. And now NUNM is clearly not a good merger partner either. Property depreciation without upkeep is a problem across the higher ed sector but NUNM is a notable example. Multnomah County property tax records for the July 2024 sale of 16 S Meade (https://www.portlandmaps.com/detail/assessor/16-S-MEADE-ST/R128820_did/) show that the building was sold for about 2.5M less than it was purchased for in December 2007, without even adjusting for inflation. A lack of realistic planning got NUNM to where it is today, but what’s really distressing is the ongoing lack of realistic planning while avoiding the obvious crisis of a defunct business model. The Fall 2026 federal graduate loan caps mean either private loans for living expenses and/or tuition reduction, but how can tuition be meaningfully reduced at a university in poor financial condition? If there’s no way to ensure a realistic three year plan, then it’s time to look at a dignified closure with a teachout year and severance packages. Sadly, the more likely scenario is an OCOM, Bastyr, NUNM trilogy.
Ryan, I appreciate you bringing up the risk to students because I agree, in all of the hand wringing about the state of the profession, I don't see people being concerned enough about students who are going to end up stranded when programs collapse. You know the expression, drive it like you stole it? This is kind of like, Administer it like you stole it. It's the opposite of dignified closure and thoughtful planning, it's driving down a dead end road at top speed, tires squealing and the engine smoking, until the wheels fall off. The problem is, there are students in the car.
If the worst happened for POCA Tech, it wouldn't be difficult to do a teach out. It wouldn't be *fun* but it would be possible -- because it would mirror exactly what we had to do to get the school off the ground, ten+ years ago. We'd have a handful of people working really hard for almost no money (which I know is what people think we're doing now, and that's true to a certain degree, but we could do it even harder if we had to). But it requires being honest about the fact that you're operating on a shoestring and so far I don't see anybody but us being willing to do that.
The business model is an example of how the Professional Managerial Class (PMC) has de-risked their careers by shifting precarity onto the vulnerable. Oh, we feel so bad about it but we couldn't possibly choose solidarity with the students and the majority of practitioners.
EXACTLY
Because solidarity requires admitting that we are all in the same (precarious) boat.
Behaving as though a naturopathic and/or aupuncture graduate degree is a solid investment for individuals from marginalized groups. Is that anti-solidarity?
I don't think it's a solid investment for *anybody*. It's a "business opportunity". If you want a (small) business opportunity, great! Small business is really good for some people (speaking from experience). But it should be clearly labeled, which is what we are trying to do at POCA Tech.
And the small business operator framing, with rational outcomes, would be reflected in the curriculum and the measurements of post-graduate success.
BTW I'm not saying you are acting like it's a good investment, I'm saying that's part of the fantasy coming from many acupuncture and naturopathic schools.
Adminning (adwinning!?) on borrowed time! There's a fantasy that these schools can operate like other universities while somehow defying all the sector-wide variables causing larger schools with endowments to close. Part of the fantasy is behaving as though faculty can acquire a professional, upper middle class life instead of acknowledging that teaching at these schools is a labor of love. Cockroachy love.
There are maybe a handful of people who have managed to create professional upper-middle class lives for themselves in the context of acupuncture and naturopathy. Some of them have great entrepreneurial skills, some of them got lucky, some of them exploited people. Everybody else has to choose between cockroach love and getting out of the field altogether. It's long past time to be honest about that.
And the successful few aren't giving enough to the schools to float the educational business model.
Thank you for adding this important piece!
*A lean, little, heart-powered & agile smoking gun there. Really grateful for POCA! Closing NUNM would be a big loss, but if we step back and look at the larger economic situation (that's been observable really for at least a decade now), then I think gratitude for such an adaptive alternative makes a lot of sense.
It's incredibly frustrating that the administrations of these programs were so disconnected from what was happening among their grads and bought their own marketing. There were warning signs for at least a decade. The pandemic might have accelerated the fall, but we were already in the downward slope before it hit. The additional of the doctoral degrees bought the schools time because they could get income from practitioners already invested in the field. But eventually that revenue stream slowed to a trickle. People thinking about entering the profession were told that without the doctorate and without herbal training their options would be limited, so those who might have sprung for a Masters had every reason to reconsider. The programs brought this upon themselves.
Thanks for the chance to share this analysis, Lisa. These financial patterns matter for the future of the whole profession. I love the footnote you added!
Thanks, Bex, and thanks for breaking down the NUNM numbers! I was thinking, "maybe unlike OCOM they sold their fancy building in time" but that's not going to matter if everybody's in denial about the rest of the financial picture.