Dive Transient:
- St. Ambrose College, a Roman Catholic school in japanese Iowa, plans to purchase close by Mount Mercy College, with the 2 establishments anticipating to keep up distinct campuses and educational packages as soon as mixed.
- Beneath the deal, which the 2 establishments forged as a “strategic mixture,” St. Ambrose is about to develop into the nonprofit mother or father group of Mount Mercy in summer time 2025, in response to a Thursday announcement. Regulatory and accreditor approvals are wanted for the transfer.
- Mount Mercy will retain its identify, changing into the Mount Mercy Campus of St. Ambrose College. In an FAQ, officers stated the deal might allow the 2 establishments to share sources and cut back prices, in hopes of passing on these financial savings to college students and households.
Dive Perception:
St. Ambrose and Mount Mercy have comparable missions and traits, with the 2 Roman Catholic establishments each situated roughly 80 miles aside in japanese Iowa. Nonetheless, St. Ambrose confirmed almost twice the enrollment within the 2023-24 educational 12 months — 2,703 college students versus 1,449 at Mount Mercy.
“Our cultures are actually very comparable, very appropriate with each other,” Mount Mercy President Todd Olson stated in an interview “We’re each Catholic establishments, we’re each targeted on assembly the wants of our area people on the identical time that we now have a broader attain than that.”
Olson famous that the establishments have college students from across the U.S. and world.
Headcounts have not too long ago declined at each establishments, in response to federal information. St. Ambrose enrolled 2,747 college students in fall 2022, down 25.2% from a decade in the past. Over that very same interval, enrollment fell 15.7% at Mount Mercy to 1,526 college students.
Nonetheless, Olson stated he noticed potential for development within the establishments’ graduate packages. Officers are additionally contemplating including some new undergraduate majors and athletics packages, he stated.
Within the FAQ, officers stated the deal’s essential purpose is to broaden academic entry to each traditional-age and grownup learners, who’re usually thought-about 25 and older.
“The fee financial savings and operational efficiencies that can outcome from a strategic mixture will permit each campuses to proceed to develop their choices and improve their pupil experiences, relatively than persevering with reductions and cutbacks, which has been an all too frequent actuality on many school campuses over the previous couple of years,” the FAQ stated.
For example, officers are smoothing pathways for his or her undergraduates into graduate packages supplied at both campuses, Olson stated. The colleges may broaden a few of their graduate packages to each campuses.
“As a result of we’re in two completely different metro areas, we now have the chance to launch second websites of a few of our superb graduate packages within the different metropolis,” Olson stated. “We imagine that’s a superb development alternative, we imagine it meets the wants of the native workforce.”
The 2 establishments didn’t share what tuition charges would seem like as soon as the deal is accomplished, though the FAQ stated any adjustments can be communicated to college students. Each are dedicated to offering “beneficiant support packages,” in response to the doc.
Olson stated he doesn’t anticipate “dramatic adjustments” to tuition costs. “I see us type of within the vary we’re in now,” he added.
The colleges listing comparable sticker costs — St. Ambrose places tuition for full-time residential college students at $36,378 within the 2024-25 educational 12 months, in comparison with $39,878 at Mount Mercy.
The acquisition could have two phases. The primary is predicted to be accomplished in summer time 2025, when St. Ambrose will develop into the mother or father group of Mount Mercy.
Then, throughout a roughly one-year transition interval, St. Ambrose will function Mount Mercy as a separate college with its personal accreditation and participation in federal pupil support packages. After that, the 2 establishments will “be absolutely mixed beneath St. Ambrose.”
The FAQ acknowledged that combining the 2 establishments would “lead to some personnel adjustments.”
“As soon as we enter our regulatory ‘transition’ part, some leaders will transfer into transitionary roles the place they may advise main college leaders,” officers stated within the FAQ. “Upon full mixture, a brand new organizational construction shall be put into place to make sure operational efficiencies.”
Leaders from each universities are working by how one can arrange the establishments, Olson stated.
“We’ll see how this works out,” Olson stated. “The central factor I am targeted on is seeing that we make this transition work in addition to potential, and that we protect the mission of each our universities as we mix into one, and that we maintain the central deal with our college students.”
