Dive Transient:
- Clarks Summit College, in Pennsylvania, introduced Monday it’ll shut amid persistent monetary challenges.
- In June, the Baptist faculty furloughed all workers whereas it sought to handle its funds deficit. On the time, President James Lytle stated Clarks Summit nonetheless deliberate on welcoming college students again within the fall.
- However Clarks Summit’s board of trustees and workers have “exhausted each viable resolution to bridge a big monetary hole,” the college stated this week. It should stop providing programs in August.
Dive Perception:
Enrollment at Clarks Summit, often called Baptist Bible School till 2016, had declined steeply. The college had 552 college students in fall 2022, fewer than half of the 1,107 college students it enrolled in fall 2012, in response to federal knowledge.
Whereas Clarks Summit didn’t element its monetary struggles, tax paperwork present it confronted a funds shortfall of just about $1.9 million in fiscal 2023.
Earlier than the closure announcement, the college tried to bridge the divide by means of fundraising.
However that didn’t convey the specified outcomes. When asserting the furloughs, Lytle stated the faculty had made progress with fundraising however warned of a “vital monetary hole.” He and the remainder of the directors agreed to work with out pay in the course of the furlough, as did some workers.
On the time, Lytle sounded an optimistic observe, citing enrollment development projections for on-line graduate college students and people within the seminary program.
However roughly a month later, that optimism got here to an finish with the faculty’s announcement that it will shut.
College students enrolled in summer time lessons can full the semester, however those that had deliberate to enroll or proceed their research within the fall might want to discover a new faculty. Clarks Summit has established teach-out plans with two different non secular establishments — Liberty College, in Virginia, and Cairn College, in Pennsylvania.
Each establishments will provide present and incoming Clarks Summit college students “a simplified admission course of.” They may also settle for all Clarks Summit credit “with some circumstances,” the closing college stated.
Clarks Summit tutorial advisers will help college students with transferring by means of July 12, and the registrar’s workplace will stay open for 90 days to assist facilitate the method.
In an FAQ addressing college students’ deposits, the faculty stated, “As property and belongings are bought and proceeds change into accessible, they are going to be distributed to collectors such as you within the legally prescribed order. If enough funds can be found, your declare might be paid in full.”
Clarks Summit is way from the one faith-based faculty to announce its closure in latest instances.
For example, Japanese Nazarene School, a nonprofit in Massachusetts, introduced final week that it will shut after years of “vital monetary headwinds.”
The 2 schools had parallel paths to their demise. Japanese Nazarene additionally noticed steep enrollment declines, ran a funds hole, and stated officers had exhausted choices to keep away from shuttering.
