A faltering economy has officials at North Carolina's private colleges worried that some of their schools will have fewer students next year.

Private schools depend on tuition and investment earnings and already have hiring freezes and are cutting courses and delaying construction, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Monday.

The largest fear for the colleges is that students will leave for cheaper public universities or not go to school at all.

Problems range from a $1 billion decline in the value of Duke University's endowment to debt and declining enrollment at smaller schools. Duke's president wants cost reductions to be identified and ordered a review of capital projects to see what could be delayed.

The newspaper said a survey of 371 private institutions showed they expected enrollment to decline between 1 percent and 10 percent next semester. The survey by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities showed 11 percent of the institutions planned to lay off faculty or had done so.

Elon University vice president Susan Klopman said Elon plans to admit more students for the fall because it expects more will decline admissions offers due to financial problems.

"I've never seen families so completely thrown off base," Klopman said. "We don't need to panic. We need to be very cautious and aware of the uncertainty our families are feeling."

One area that will be difficult to cut is financial aid, said Hope Williams, president of N.C. Independent Colleges and Universities.

"What we want to try to do is assure families who may be affected by this economic downturn that we will work with them in every way possible to make sure their children can stay in school," she said.

Campuses that already have financial problems will face more challenges from the economy.

At St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, enrollment declined for the 2008 fall semester by 125 students, to 625.

The college has filed a lawsuit against the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which wanted to drop St. Andrews' accreditation because of concerns about financial stability.

St. Andrews is launching online courses and recruiting international students to try to boost enrollment while cutting its budget and laying off employees. The school has about $20 million in debt.

Louisburg College also has laid off employees and cut spending to reduce its budget by $1.6 million after getting a warning from the accreditation group over financial stability.

Louisburg has reduced its debt from $7 million to about $5.5 million, according to interim president Rodney Foth. But the college's enrollment has dropped from 724 students last year to 586, meaning fewer course sections and part-time faculty.

"We're trying to do everything we can with every penny we have in order to ensure a positive result," Foth said.