Dive Transient:
- Bluffton College will merge with the College of Findlay by fall 2025, pending approval from state businesses and their shared accreditor, the Increased Studying Fee.
- The personal Christian establishments — each based within the nineteenth century — are positioned about 20 miles aside in northwest Ohio and can proceed to function independently till the merger is finalized. They mentioned they’re intent on honoring each campuses’ particular person traditions following the merger.
- “To stay sustainable into the following century and past, universities are being referred to as upon to take revolutionary approaches and daring actions. This merger could be each,” based on an FAQ on the merger.
Dive Perception:
Whereas the schools mentioned they’re getting into the merger “from a spot of monetary stability,” each mentioned they’ve confronted monetary challenges.
Bluffton has suffered a big drop in enrollment over the past decade, with its scholar physique declining from 1,198 in fall 2012 to 745 in fall 2022, based on federal information.
The College of Findlay averaged virtually 4,900 college students throughout that point interval, fluctuating barely. However the college self-reported a median enrollment of three,500 as of this yr, pointing to a latest and sudden dip.
“We’re all conscious that greater schooling is going through vital modifications and challenges,” Katherine Fell, president of the College of Findlay, mentioned in a press release. “These occasions name upon us to be revolutionary and forward-thinking.”
The trustee boards of each universities unanimously authorized the merger in February. And leaders from each establishments introduced this week that they’d formalized the settlement by a memorandum of understanding.
Underneath the settlement, the College of Findlay will keep each of the establishments’ campuses. The universities didn’t specify if the merger will lead to layoffs or a discount in workers, and neither instantly responded to a request for remark Thursday. . The FAQ directed staff to carry inquiries to their division chair or program director.
The universities’ athletics groups would stay of their respective NCAA division, pending the affiliation’s approval.
It has not been determined if or how Bluffton’s title can be used following the merger. However an FAQ in regards to the merger mentioned relationships with each universities’ founding denominations — the Church buildings of God for the College of Findlay and Mennonite for Bluffton — could be maintained.
