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Dive Transient:
- Lincoln Christian College, a small Illinois establishment, will shut Might 31, and plans to switch possession of its seminary faculty to Ozark Christian School, an establishment simply over 400 miles away in Missouri.
- The announcement comes after Lincoln Christian made dramatic cuts to its educational programming final 12 months, eliminating virtually all of its undergraduate levels and focusing totally on ministry packages.
- Ozark Christian plans to call the seminary faculty “Lincoln Seminary” and pair every of its diploma packages with online-only choices, in response to a joint press launch Wednesday. Ozark Christian would additionally obtain Lincoln Christian’s $3.8 million pupil scholarship endowment.
Dive Perception:
Declines in enrollment and donor giving imply Lincoln Christian can’t proceed to function independently, its president, Silas McCormick, stated Wednesday.
Lincoln Christian’s enrollment has cratered over the previous decade, falling from 1,066 college students in fall 2012 to only 258 college students in fall 2022, in response to federal information. And within the 2022 fiscal 12 months, the college obtained virtually $3.8 million in contributions and grants, down somewhat greater than 11% from roughly $4.2 million the 12 months prior.
In fall 2019, Lincoln Christian had amassed $9 million in debt, in response to officers. The college sought to handle it with vital educational cuts and the sale of roughly half of its campus for just below $4 million. As of now, Lincoln Christian has now introduced that quantity right down to $3.1 million. Ozark Christian estimates the debt will fall additional, to $2.6 million, by the tip of the present educational 12 months.
“Once they stop educational operations Might 31, 2024, Lincoln Christian College will work to complete paying the remaining quantity,” Ozark Christian President Matt Proctor stated in a press release Wednesday. “However somewhat than face educational closure below an enormous, all-assets-swallowing debt, the Lincoln management has as a substitute preserved one thing of nice worth to cross on to future generations.”
Lincoln Christian’s seminary college students concerned with persevering with their packages at Ozark won’t see increased tuition costs or extra diploma necessities, the school stated.
By means of Might 2024, Lincoln Christian will proceed working its seminary in Illinois. Afterward, the seminary will transfer to Ozark Christian’s campus in Joplin, Missouri, pending approval from the universities’ respective accreditors and different regulatory companies.
Ozark Christian won’t be hiring Lincoln Christian’s staff, the joint assertion says.
Lincoln Christian is engaged on teach-out agreements for graduate college students whose packages won’t be continued below Ozark Christian. The 2 faculties are additionally engaged on a switch settlement guaranteeing all credit from Lincoln Christian’s two remaining undergraduate packages will switch to Ozark Christian.
Extra info, together with an FAQ for college students, donors, and alumni, is forthcoming, officers stated.
“Within the meantime, we do need to make a request of you: please assist us end this educational 12 months nicely,” McCormick stated. “A superb end for us means begin for our sister faculty who has come alongside us in a time of want and can keep it up our work.”
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