Member News

Northland College, a private nonprofit institution in Wisconsin, is attempting to raise $12 million by early April to stay open beyond this academic year, it announced Monday. The environmentally focused liberal arts college is staring down insufficient resources and will be forced to close after the spring term if it doesn’t secure the funding. If Northland raises the needed funds, they would be used to support the college during the 2024-25 academic year while officials develop a new model. “Northland College acknowledges the unwavering support of its community and remains optimistic about the future,” it said in the announcement. 

The president of Columbia University and the co-chairs of its Board of Trustees will testify next month at a House hearing about antisemitism at the New York institution. This will be the House Education and Workforce Committee’s second hearing focused on how specific institutions responded to antisemitic incidents on campus in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war that began in October. Two of three presidents who testified at the first hearing in December have since resigned in part because of the fallout from their testimony. 

Fontbonne University (MO) will close in 2025, a decision that follows years of dwindling enrollment and financial losses at the 100-year-old Clayton-based liberal arts institution. Neighboring Washington University will purchase Fontbonne’s 16-acre campus “in the coming months” as part of a purchase agreement, Fontbonne officials said. A sale price was not disclosed. Washington U, in a statement Monday, said it has no definitive plans for the site, which located just south of its campus.

Clarkson University plans to transfer 16 graduate-level teaching programs to Siena College, pending approval by the New York State Education Department, the two private nonprofit institutions announced this week. Officials said they expect the move to be completed in June.  About 100 students are currently enrolled in the affected master’s and certificate programs, officials said. Eight full-time faculty and staff members from Clarkson will move to Siena as well. Tuition will remain the same for currently enrolled students, but Siena might change prices for new cohorts once the transfer is complete, said Margaret Madden, the college’s provost. No money changed hands between the two colleges in the deal. 

A growing number of small US colleges are under pressure, according to a Bloomberg analysis of the latest federal data that shows more higher education institutions facing enrollment declines and other strains. About 200 schools met at least three of the five metrics that Bloomberg used to identify rising pressure on non-profit higher-education institutions with less than 5,000 students, according to a review of the most-up-to-date government data from the US Department of Education. Those factors include high acceptance rates, falling enrollment and repeated years of operating losses.