Dive Transient:
- Gannon College and Ursuline School have signed a letter of intent to mix below the Gannon umbrella, the Catholic nonprofit establishments stated Monday.
- Beneath the proposed strategic partnership, Gannon would substitute the Ursuline Sisters as the only real member of the Ursuline School Corp., in keeping with an FAQ web page dedicated to the mix. Gannon would additionally take possession of Ursuline’s property and liabilities.
- As soon as totally agreed on and accomplished, the mix of Pennsylvania-based Gannon and Ohio-based Ursuline would create “the most important Catholic college system within the area,” with 6,000 college students and 1,300 workers, the establishments stated.
Dive Perception:
Gannon and Ursuline, which have been in talks because the spring, framed a partnership as a proactive, mission-aligned step that will meet the wants of every constituency.
The establishments famous that Gannon’s leaders have been exploring growth alternatives, whereas Ursuline officers have been seeking to accomplice with a bigger establishment. Ursuline’s controlling group, the Ursuline Sisters, wished a strategic accomplice to protect the faculty’s legacy because the order’s members declined.
The mix would prolong Gannon’s attain into northeast Ohio, from its two present campuses in Erie, Pennsylvania, for undergraduate and graduate applications, and in Ruskin, Florida, for graduate well being applications. Ursuline is positioned in Pepper Pike, close to Cleveland.
It might additionally increase Gannon’s tutorial choices, including Ursuline’s liberal arts focus to Gannon’s suite of engineering, enterprise, well being professions, training, humanities and social sciences applications.
Gannon is by far the bigger establishment, with 4,665 college students in fall 2022 — up 12.4% from 5 years prior. Ursuline had 950 college students in fall 2022, down 15.4% from 2017, in keeping with federal information.
Gannon is the stronger entity financially as nicely. For fiscal 2023, it reported $317 million in property and a complete working surplus of $2.7 million on $108.6 million in income. For a similar interval, Ursuline reported $93.6 million in property and eked out a surplus of $150,470 on $26.6 million income. Ursuline’s liabilities got here to $3.3 million for the fiscal 12 months.
The establishments are conducting due diligence and understanding particulars of a ultimate settlement. As soon as signed, approval from regulators and the establishments’ accreditors — the Center States Fee on Larger Training for Gannon and Larger Studying Fee for Ursuline — may take 12 to 18 months, they stated.
