Lackawanna, Peirce announce plans to merge

Lackawanna Faculty and Peirce Faculty, two adult-oriented establishments in Pennsylvania, plan to hitch forces in a merger, the establishments introduced Wednesday morning.

Separated by a bit greater than a two-hour drive, Lackawanna is positioned in Scranton and Peirce in Philadelphia. However each establishments have lengthy centered on the grownup learner inhabitants in a demographically challenged state. Whereas Lackawanna is primarily a two-year school with restricted bachelor’s diploma choices, Peirce affords a mixture of two- and four-year levels and a number of other grasp’s applications and graduate certificates.

Now the 2 establishments are set to turn out to be one, an effort that should nonetheless be authorised by their shared accreditor, the Center States Fee on Increased Schooling, in addition to the Pennsylvania Division of Schooling and the U.S. Division of Schooling.

A Shared Mission and Future

Pennsylvania’s larger training sector has been exhausting hit by enrollment losses, job cuts and school closures in recent times. Even among the state’s wealthiest establishments, comparable to Pennsylvania State College, have been pressured to trim budgets amid a bleak demographic outlook. Already this yr, Pittsburgh Technical Faculty and College of the Arts have closed abruptly and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Tremendous Arts introduced it was ending its diploma applications.

Amid the closures, leaders at Lackawanna and Peirce see a chance to develop collectively.

“It is a merger of alternative and development. It’s a optimistic story. It’s not a few ‘have-to,’ that is about ‘What if?’ and our respective establishments and seeing alternative at each stage,” stated Lackawanna president Jill Murray.

Although Murray and Peirce Faculty President Mary Ellen Caro had met beforehand, merger discussions started after informal conversations at an Affiliation of Unbiased Schools and Universities of Pennsylvania (AICUP) convention in March 2023, the place the 2 presidents occurred to sit down subsequent to at least one one other. Initially, that connection sparked an articulation settlement between the 2 faculties, with a tuition low cost and different perks for Lackawanna college students who pursue grasp’s applications or graduate certificates at Peirce.

The 2 faculties additionally agreed to share skilled growth alternatives for workers.

“Each establishments have a historical past of partnering, whether or not that be company companions or different establishments, as a method of increasing portfolios,” Caro stated. “So in that vein, Jill and I have been discussing mutual alternatives that we would pursue, and it grew to become clear that we shared frequent missions centered on increasing entry and supporting college students who needed to enhance their lives. And as we went by means of what prospects there is perhaps to companion, it grew to become abundantly clear that we had a standard basis, and there is perhaps one thing extra to partnering.”

By June 2023, that connection led them to contemplate a merger. From there, every establishment started a due diligence marketing campaign, assessing the opposite’s strengths and weaknesses, and introducing governing board members and key personnel to at least one one other.

On paper, Lackawanna seems to be the stronger establishment, with an endowment valued at $10 million in fiscal yr 2023, in comparison with $3.6 million for Peirce, in response to the newest tax filings for each establishments. Enrollment has additionally been extra steady at Lackawanna.

Peirce, the smaller of the 2 faculties, has seen enrollment dip in recent times. Within the early 2010s, Peirce repeatedly enrolled greater than 2,000 college students, however that quantity has slipped nearly yearly since, falling to 856 college students in fall 2022, in response to the newest federal information.

In the meantime, Lackawanna’s scholar physique has grown during the last decade. Enrollment hovered round 1,500 within the early 2010s, however has elevated in recent times; the newest federal information confirmed a headcount of 1,868 in fall 2022.

If the merger is authorised, the 2 faculties will bear the Lackawanna title.

Merger Outlook

Whereas greater than a dozen U.S. faculties have introduced closures this yr, noticeably fewer have merged. Different current merger bulletins embrace St. Ambrose College and Mount Mercy College; California State College Maritime Academy and California Polytechnic State College, San Luis Obispo; and Northeastern College and Marymount Manhattan Faculty.

Regardless of the infrequency of mergers in comparison with closures, school enterprise officers indicated a robust urge for food for such partnerships within the newest Inside Increased Ed Survey of Faculty and College Chief Enterprise Officers. Almost 40 p.c of CBOs responded that their establishments ought to mix educational applications with one other school, and one other 59 p.c stated they need to share administrative capabilities, although solely 16 p.c indicated the idea that they need to merge with one other establishment within the subsequent 5 years.

Nevertheless, respondents indicated little motion in that course. Solely 10 p.c of CBOs stated they’ve had severe inside discussions a few merger, a quantity that rose to 23 p.c within the demographically challenged Northeast area.

Mark La Branche, chancellor emeritus of the College of Tennessee Southern and editor of the ebook Inside Faculty Mergers: Tales from the Entrance Traces, famous that schools typically make the error of ready too lengthy to pursue a merger, neglecting to hunt a partnership till they’re on the level of desperation.

“The time to consider merging with a purpose to improve or increase or protect your mission will not be when it’s important to do it; it’s whenever you nonetheless have one thing helpful to supply,” La Branche stated.

He provides credit score to schools that search merger companions whereas nonetheless able of viability. He believes the lack of identification, comparable to surrendering an establishment’s title, is usually a barrier to mergers.

La Branche was on the helm of Martin Methodist Faculty when the College of Tennessee acquired the establishment in 2021, including it to the state system. Whereas La Branche acknowledged that being absorbed was painful, he pointed to advantages comparable to preserving and increasing the establishment’s mission in rural Tennessee, the place better-resourced UT was in a position to serve a bigger inhabitants of scholars.

Regardless of the challenges of such partnerships, La Branche believes extra mergers lie forward, largely due to the difficult enterprise setting for larger training. He stated trustees must be extra engaged within the establishments’ operations and school leaders needs to be extra clear about their monetary challenges with a purpose to perceive their very own destiny and when it’s time to take motion.

“Ensure that folks perceive what’s at stake and what the challenges are going ahead,” La Branche suggested.

In Pennsylvania, having accomplished the due diligence work during the last yr, Murray and Caro are looking forward to a future as a shared establishment,whatever the varied bureaucratic obstacles that will crop up alongside the best way. Pending approvals, the 2 faculties will formally turn out to be one in July 2026.