A wave of small private college closures in Pennsylvania that already upended career plans of students from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia has claimed another institution.
Clarks Summit University, a 92-year-old Baptist college founded during the Great Depression, is shuttering its Lackawanna County campus amid worsening financial and enrollment woes.
Enrollment that once topped 1,000 had declined to 552 students, 376 of them undergraduates, according to U.S. Department of Education data for fall 2022, the most current available. Its accrediting agency in June placed the institution on probation citing financial, operational and other issues.
“Clarks Summit University’s Board of Trustees has made the difficult and painful decision to begin the process of closure,” stated a post to the university’s website last Monday. “Clarks Summit University, including Baptist Bible Seminary, is unable to offer classes starting in the fall of 2024.”
Since early June, Pittsburgh Technical College in Oakdale, Triangle Tech campuses including those in Pittsburgh and Greensburg and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia all announced closure or plans to do so.
Each faced issues specific to them but became part of a campus shakeout being felt nationally, driven by fewer traditional 17-to-22-year-old college students and other social and economic issues that have depressed applicant numbers.
Angst over tuition prices and mounting student debt, as well as doubts about the worth of a college degree given a strong job market, all have added to admission woes.
Pulling the rug out
On soon-to-close campuses such as Pittsburgh Technical College, frustrated students found themselves scrambling to enroll elsewhere. They must figure out how many credits will transfer, whether their loans can be forgiven (and, if so, how much), and if scholarships will transfer.
“It’s traumatizing to have that rug pulled out,” said Stephen Wells, provost at Community College of Allegheny County, among the public and private institutions offering enrollment and other assistance to displaced Pittsburgh Technical College and Triangle Tech students.
“You thought you had your life on the right path, and you thought you were headed in a good direction, and, all of a sudden, you’re told, ‘Hey, you can’t do this anymore,’’’ he said.
Wells and others point to research indicating students at institutions that suddenly close delay their studies and are half as likely to complete a credential.
Experts long have warned a precipitous drop in births during the Great Recession of 2008 would mean fewer campus freshmen in the coming years.
“We knew this was coming,” Wells said.
As college enrollments shrink, especially in the Northeast and Midwest, campus closure rates have reached about one private college a week, said Jason E. Lane, president and CEO of the National Association of Higher Education Systems, based in Adelphi, Md.
In neighboring West Virginia, Alderson Broaddus University in Philippi, W.Va., announced its closure last year. Enrollment there had fallen over the decade to 670 students from 1,117.
The botched rollout of a revised federal FAFSA form needed by colleges to assemble financial aid offers has added to the admission pressure on vulnerable schools this year because fewer prospective students have completed the form.
Waynesburg warning
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education last week issued a warning to Waynesburg University that its accreditation might be in jeopardy. It cited insufficient evidence that the institution is complying with one of its “educational effectiveness assessment” standards.
The warning did not involve financial or operational concerns. The school, with 1,366 students, as of fall 2022 is in compliance with all other standards of accreditation, said a statement released by Stacey Brodak, Waynesburg vice president for institutional advancement and university relations.
“We have already begun revisions to our assessment practices. We are committed to meeting all of the MSCHE Standards for Accreditation,” the statement read. “The provost has already formed a task force to expedite the work that’s taking place on assessment.”
She said Middle States might revisit the issue involving the assessment standard once Waynesburg provides an update in March 2025.
Waynesburg remains accredited while under the warning, Middle States said.
Finding alternatives
For faculty and staff at Pittsburgh Technical College and other institutions that cease operating, closure means termination.
At Pittsburgh Technical College, which set an Aug. 9 closure date, the school notified employees on its website that there would be no severance packages, no COBRA to help continue health insurance and that their coverage would cease no later than the end of August.
It’s not clear how many faculty and staff are being let go, though the Education Department said faculty alone totaled 54 in 2022. A public relations firm under contract with the school through June referred inquiries Wednesday to the office of its president, Alicia B. Harvey-Smith. A call there was not returned.
Harvey-Smith has been unavailable in recent months for an interview to discuss the college’s finances.
Meanwhile, several public and private campuses have stepped forward to assist displaced students.
CCAC, whose West Hills Center is less than a mile from the technical college, will host a “CCAC Exploration Day” on Tuesday for students from the college and from Pittsburgh-based Triangle Tech, whose six locations statewide will close in June 2025.
The noon to 4 p.m. event is at the West Hills facility at 1000 McKee Rd. in Oakdale.
Attendees can meet with college administrators, faculty, advisers and staff to discuss “teach-out” plans for various Pittsburgh Technical College programs. Academic advisers will be available to assist in application, enrollment, credit transfer and other planning.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education describes a teach-out plan as a “written plan that provides details on opportunities for students to complete their program of study if the school ceases to operate.”
Offerings at CCAC that are part of the Pittsburgh Technical College Teach-Out plan include programs in business management, criminal justice & criminology, culinary arts, cybersecurity and IT support specialist, facilities maintenance technology, film technology, graphic communications, heating & air conditioning technology, mechatronics technology, medical insurance specialist, nursing, software development and welding.
The technical college has said its focus is on helping employees and students transition elsewhere.
One student, Bryce Bladen of Gettysburg, spoke with TribLive last month and said it was increasingly clear the college would close, even though school leaders for months had insisted otherwise, right up until the day a closure message was added to the school’s website.
“It was gaslighting,” the 20-year-old said of those assurances.
Painful choice
As schools grapple with a turn in their fortunes, at least one is putting its faith in a higher power.
Clarks Summit “has weathered many challenges as God provided in remarkable ways,” the school’s closure statement read. “The board of trustees and employees have worked to overcome the most recent challenges and have exhausted every viable solution to bridge a significant financial gap.”
But a financial gap remained, so the suburban campus in South Abington, about 10 miles outside Scranton, made a painful choice.
“Despite this saddening news, the biblical principles CSU was founded on remain true and firm,” the school stated. “Alumni, students and friends of CSU — anchor your hope in our Savior, not in circ*mstances.”
Bill Schackner is a TribLive reporter covering higher education. Raised in New England, he joined the Trib in 2022 after 29 years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where he was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team. Previously, he has written for newspapers in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. He can be reached at bschackner@triblive.com.
