Posted on 04/30/2025 11:51:14 AM PDT by Morgana
Another small Christian college is shuttering. St. Andrews University announced it would close its Laurinburg, N.C., campus on May 5, 2025 after the spring semester ends.
“This outcome follows years of effort to preserve our presence in this community while delivering an affordable, high-quality education and meaningful student experience. Despite those efforts, we have reached a point where financial sustainability is no longer attainable,” Dr. Tarun Malik, St. Andrews campus president and provost, said in a statement about the closing.
The president sought to assure students it would support them in finding teach-out opportunities at other universities, such as Brevard College, Appalachian State University, and High Point University.
It also plans to help employees secure new opportunities.
St. Andrews traces its roots to the 19th century when Flora Macdonald College for Women was started in Red Springs, N.C., in 1896. In 1958, Flora Macdonald merged with Presbyterian Junior College to form St. Andrews University.
After it lost accreditation due to financial problems in the late 2000s, St. Andrews merged with Webber International University in Babson Park, Florida, in 2011.
The small university with student enrollment of less than 800 is well-known for its equestrian program with successful teams competing in national equestrian competitions.
St. Andrews is just one of many small Christian colleges that has closed its doors in recent years as a long-expected demographic shift based on declining birth rates is starting to materialize.
Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts, announced its plans to cease all academic operations in May 2025. The board of trustees of Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, decided in February the college will close at the end of this academic year.
In recent years, other closures include Alliance University, Clarks Summit University, Birmingham-Southern College, Finlandia University, The King’s College, and Iowa Wesleyan University.
Limestone University in Gaffney, S.C., may face imminent closure if it doesn’t receive $6 million in financial support. Last week, the Fullerton Foundation made a commitment of $1 million to the college as part of its “Together for Limestone” campaign.
A recent study attempted to forecast college closures based on the declining number of students who are college-age. It predicted that if the abrupt 15% decline in enrollment occurs, up to 80 additional colleges could close.
Let me guess: they went woke.
This could be related:
I looked at the pictures on Google maps.
Then I realized that I had gone past that college on a motorcycle trip about thirty years ago but didn’t know what it was, just that it was some sort of college.
As foreign students become ever more valuable to American ‘higher’ education.
That makes stupid look smart.
Two of my alma maters in that transfer list
Lessened interest in four year college education and the associated high student debt have discouraged young people, particularly young men, from pursuing higher education. You may be fortunate to find a conservative college but you are still burdened with a huge debt load that is difficult to repay.
I lived in Laurinburg for nearly 20 years, and watched it slowly dwindle as factories and businesses closed or moved to other countries. I’m not surprised that St. Andrew’s is folding; must be very hard to recruit students and faculty.
As much as I hate to see small schools closing up, I have a feeling that they had long since abandoned any religious roots.
Too bad, Taurun Malik should have kept the institution far more into its hereditary Scottish heritage.
They have a pretty good pipe band.
Dr. Tarun Malik?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.