Aggravated by the pandemic, colleges have been having to change many aspects of their institutions in recent years. With less high school graduates and more pressure on lowering tuition, some institutions couldn’t take it anymore and ended up closing. For the many that remain open, uncertainty is the word for the future.  

Higher Ed Dive revised major closing, mergers, acquisitions and other consolidation among public and private nonprofit institutions that happened per state, since 2016. While many states didn’t present any closings, Pennsylvania had three. States like California, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts were the ones where most institutions closed, with numbers varying from six to nine. 

See the information below about the institutions that closed in Pennsylvania: 

• University of Sciences, in 2022: merging into Saint Joseph’s University, the agreement announcement was made in June 2021. Demographic challenges and high fixed costs were some of the factors that made the University of Sciences seek a partner. The merger became official a year after the agreement announcement. Read what Saint Joseph’s President Mark Reed and Provost Cheryl McConnell said about the acquisition here. 
• Abington Memorial Hospital Dixon School of Nursing, in 2017: the program was closed, but in order to meet the demand of BSN trained nurses, Jefferson College of Nursing opened and occupied the space that used to be Dixon School of Nursing. 
• Philadelphia University, in 2017: A new university emerged from the combination of Philadelphia University and Thomas Jefferson University. The new institution creates an innovative way of teaching and learning, focused on 21st-century professional education and real-world demands. It was designed to deliver high-impact education and value for students in the areas of medicine, science, architecture, design, fashion and more. Click here to learn more. 

If you want to read more about the situation in other states, click here.