It’s not a secret that colleges are facing difficult times. Changing student demographics, rising student debt, and the increasing cost of pursuing higher education have led schools to think strategically about what to do to stay afloat. Two Philadelphia schools–Philadelphia University and Thomas Jefferson University– merged last summer because of many of these realities. While combining institutions seemingly worked for these two schools, the question on some minds is whether to merge or not? This Chronicle of Higher Education article examines what to think about when making this consideration.