\n<\/p>\n
Trinity Christian College outside Chicago will close at the end of the current 2025\u201326 academic year due to insurmountable financial pressures.<\/p>\n
The college announced the move Tuesday, citing a litany of challenges, which include \u201cpost-Covid financial losses; persistent operating deficits; a decline in college enrollment and increased competition for students; and a shift in donor giving and financial circumstances,\u201d according to a statement from officials posted on a frequently asked questions webpage.<\/p>\n
Acting President Jeanine Mozie said in a video message that the Board of Trustees considered multiple options to address \u201csignificant and rapidly evolving financial challenges,\u201d but ultimately, there was \u201cno sustainable path forward for our beloved institution.\u201d<\/p>\n
The FAQ page noted that the Board of Trustees considered \u201csignificant programmatic changes, strategic partnerships, and the like\u201d but \u201cdetermined that these and other alternatives were insufficient to overcome the college\u2019s deficit\u201d and sustain Trinity\u2019s mission over the long term.<\/p>\n
The closure announcement follows a recent leadership change at the college. Former president Aaron Kuecker resigned in August after less than two years in the top job but nearly 14 at Trinity altogether. Multiple staff members were also reportedly laid off in August.<\/p>\n
A review of the college\u2019s finances shows that Trinity operated at a loss in eight of the last 10 fiscal years and relied significantly on a small pool of donors. An estimated 76\u00a0percent of all financial contributions came from just three donors in 2024, according to Trinity\u2019s latest audit.<\/p>\n
Trinity also had less and less cash on hand. According to the audit, \u201ccash and cash equivalents\u201d fell from nearly $7.2\u00a0million in fiscal year 2023 to just under $5\u00a0million\u2014a drop of nearly 31 percent. Trinity also had a meager endowment, valued at $11\u00a0million at the end of the 2024 fiscal year. (A recent study found the median endowment across the sector is $243\u00a0million.)<\/p>\n
Bondholders warned the college in June that Trinity was at risk of violating its financial covenants because of its limited liquidity, according to publicly available documents. <\/p>\n
Both faculty numbers and student head count had dropped in recent years, bond documents show. Both of those numbers have been in decline in recent years with total faculty falling from 145 to 126 and enrollment dropping from a total head count of 1,068 in fall 2019 to 872 last year, despite a recent tuition reset to attract students. Trinity aimed to hit 1,081 students by the 2027\u201328 academic year, financial documents show.<\/p>\n
Trinity was founded by Chicago businessmen in 1959 and is located on a 56-acre campus in Palos Heights, Ill., outside Chicago, which was recently estimated to be worth $25\u00a0million.<\/p>\n
College officials announced teach-out and transfer agreements with Calvin University in Michigan as well as Olivet Nazarene University and Saint Xavier University, both of which are in Illinois.<\/p>\n
Trinity follows several other small, cash-strapped Christian colleges that have announced closures this year, some of which have shut down abruptly, such as Limestone University and St. Andrews University. Siena Heights University, a Roman Catholic institution, also announced plans to close. On the secular side, Northland College in Wisconsin closed earlier this year, and Pennsylvania State University announced plans to shut down seven rural campuses by 2027 after years of shrinking enrollment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trinity Christian College outside Chicago will close at the end of the current 2025\u201326 academic year due to insurmountable financial pressures. The college announced the move Tuesday, citing a litany of challenges, which include \u201cpost-Covid financial losses; persistent operating deficits; a decline in college enrollment and increased competition for students; and a shift in donor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[1631,7521,986,535,11106],"class_list":{"0":"post-32236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-announces","9":"tag-christian","10":"tag-closure","11":"tag-college","12":"tag-trinity"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}