St. Andrews University announces abrupt closure

Dive Brief:

• St. Andrews University, in North Carolina, will cease operations next Monday at the end of its spring semester, it announced abruptly on Friday. 
• The institution, which became a branch of Florida-based Webber International University after a 2011 merger, has “reached a point where financial sustainability is no longer attainable,” Campus President Tarun Malik said in a community message.
• St. Andrews said it is still ironing out formal teach-out agreements for students to finish their studies. On its website, St. Andrews listed more than a dozen institutions that have “expressed interest in supporting our students.”

Dive Insight:

St. Andrews offered little detail about what went wrong at the university beyond Malik’s note about financial sustainability. 

The small liberal arts institution’s enrollment has fluctuated in recent years, federal data shows. 

Just between 2018 and 2021, fall headcount rose by one-third, reaching 911 students. But the next year, fall enrollment fell 11.2% to 809 students. In 2023, it rose again, though modestly, to 832 students. 

The university in fiscal 2023 had a net loss of $6.9 million on top of a $1 million loss the year before, according to tax records. Its net assets had also turned to negative $1.7 million in fiscal 2023, down from $5.3 million the year before. 

St. Andrews was created out of a combination of women’s college and Presbyterian men’s college. Originally named St. Andrews Presbyterian College, the new institution first opened in 1961. 

Its campus in Laurinburg, North Carolina, was built to be “accessible to all,” which St. Andrews says put it in “the forefront of service and research in the education of physically disabled students.” 

Later, in the 2000s, it began aggressively courting military students and still touts its support of active-duty students. 

Following financial and accreditation struggles, the institution won approval to merge with Webber in 2011. Webber at the time was larger by about 300 students.

Webber leaders cited a desire to combine the university’s business program with St. Andrews’ broader liberal arts offerings. St. Andrews offered its first graduate program, a master’s in business administration, after the merger.  

Today, Webber has financial struggles of its own. In fiscal 2023, it faced a total operating deficit of $8.2 million, more than double its $2.7 million deficit the year before. Its 2023 deficit, as well as its negative net assets, prompted auditors to add a “going concern” warning to the university’s latest financials, indicating Webber might not be able to continue operating over the next year.

As St. Andrews winds down, Malik said the university will focus on helping forge teach-out agreements for students and help them to transfer, as well as assist employees with looking for new jobs. Malik also said St. Andrews would preserve its historical record, archives and cultural assets, and work with community leaders around the disposition of its property. 

The university also has a campus in Pinehurst, North Carolina, but the institution didn’t specify whether it would remain open or close along with the Laurinburg flagship.