Giving Compass' Take:

• In an effort to preserve liberal arts, small colleges across the country are having to rethink their approach to curriculum and how much students pay for it.

• What avenues can small colleges use to ensure their success? What is the role of the donor to support higher education?

• Learn more about the future of liberal arts education. 

Hiram College, located in a historic northeast Ohio village whose 1,200 residents are in equal numbers with the student body, has long had a progressive tilt.

It admitted women and black students soon after its 1850 founding, tried scheduling innovations in the 1930s that earned national attention, in the '70s became one of the first institutions in the Midwest to offer "weekend college" for working adults and has partnered with community colleges for several years. And it mostly thrived — once called "the happiest college in the land" by the Saturday Evening Post.

But when Lori Varlotta took over as president in the summer of 2014, like many happy small colleges, Hiram was struggling.

Read the full article about how small colleges are rethinking the liberal arts by James Paterson at Education Dive.