Middle States placed Rider University on probation for insufficient financial evidence, prompting President John R. Loyack to announce a “March to Sustainability” plan that includes eliminating 20% of full‑time faculty, a 14% base‑pay reduction, suspended retirement contributions and increased teaching loads for tenured faculty. Loyack said the measures are urgent to stabilize Rider after years of enrollment declines and fiscal missteps, including a failed campus sale. Faculty members said the cuts follow rounds of layoffs and program closures and warned of further uncertainty; one associate professor described life at Rider as waiting for “the next shoe to drop.” The accreditor’s action and the scale of the cuts underscore risks facing small private colleges: probation can jeopardize federal financial aid access and erode enrollment. Peers watching Rider will likely reassess contingency planning, contractual obligations for tenured faculty and the financial models that underpin regional accreditors’ assessments.