Trusteeship - May/June 2020 - 11

Crossroads
CLOSURES AND MERGERS
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BY DAVID TOBENKIN

As competition for students increases due to changing demographics
of the traditional college-age population, some colleges and universities have closed,
merged, or affiliated with other institutions. Boards of trustees
that find their higher education institutions in a financial position
that seems unsustainable long term may have to make a decision to
close their campus or affiliate or merge with another.
The date was February 21, 2018.
James Lyons, then president of Concordia College Alabama,
remembers looking out at the 400 faculty, staff, and students who
had been gathered that fateful day in a gymnasium and proceeding
to share the heavy news that this indeed was the end of the line
for the Selma, Alabama-based institution. The historically African
American college would be closing its doors after a nearly 100-year
existence.
"It was the most difficult moment in my more than 50 years in
higher education," Lyons says. "After professionally having spent a
whole career trying to build institutions and make them more academically competitive and sustainable, I had to stand in front of the
entire campus community, and tell them that there would be no
school to go to, or place to work or teach, after June 30," Lyons says.
"There was a range of emotions; some people were crying; some
were resigned because they knew this was coming. It was particularly hard because even though people in that audience had already
suffered greatly, they were working hard to the last minute. They
didn't sit there and ride out the time."
The long-term challenges at Concordia College Alabama had
existed for a while: desegregation opened up educational options
elsewhere; a community college had opened up down the street at
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half the cost; and a campus was located in a poor community with
few resources that deterred investors. And then there was a debt
tally that exceeded $8 million.
And Concordia College Alabama is only one of hundreds of
higher education institutions that may be forced to merge or close
in the years to come by the adverse winds facing many of these
institutions: falling domestic enrollments, reduced state financial
support, ebbing flows of international students, greater competition, reduced patronage by religious and other major donors, and
unhealthy internal financial fundamentals.
The good news is there is a host of resources, including books
on the subject and experts on mergers and even closures, to help
boards to make and execute those difficult decisions.

A Familiar Pattern
Many higher education institutions with weak financial, demographic, and strategic attributes are facing similar challenges that,
for many, amount to three basic long-term choices: either merge,
affiliate, or close.
■ A total of 92 nonprofit colleges and universities have closed or
announced future closures since 2016 through February 2020,
according to a running tally maintained by Education Dive.
MAY. JUN. 2020 TRUSTEESHIP 11

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Trusteeship - May/June 2020

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