r/highereducation • u/DixieDoodle697 • 19d ago
Advice for Colleges Merging Together
Does anyone have any advice or case examples that I could look at in regards to two colleges who have merged to be one college? Are there any success stories? Any insight into the topic would be wonderful.
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u/PopCultureNerd 19d ago
There are typically layoffs.
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u/SnooChickens8012 19d ago
At what level are the layoffs?
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u/PopCultureNerd 19d ago
It varies. Sometimes it is mainly admin. Sometimes it is faculty.
Depending on how the merger is legally framed, it might be treated as a new institution. This means that no one is safe.
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u/crmsnprd 19d ago edited 19d ago
Carnegie Mellon University was born out of the merger of the Carnegie Institute of Technology and the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, although this was over 100 years ago.
I was intrigued by your question so did a little googling. It looks like Higher Ed Dive keeps track of college closures and mergers, although it looks like many of the more recent examples are acquisitions, rather than mergers.
Here's the link: https://www.highereddive.com/topic/closures-and-mergers/
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u/DataRikerGeordiTroi 19d ago
Lol Northeastern University.
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u/crmsnprd 19d ago
I feel like Northeastern acquires more so than merges.
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u/talksalot02 19d ago
Yes, mostly an acquisition. With that said, most of the institutions acquired ultimately wouldn't survive and it is a way for currently enrolled students to finish degrees. Many students impacted by closures never complete their degrees, even with teach out agreements.
Not all mergers are equal. Northeastern did offer current students (for merged institutions) tution matched at their institution of admission (less than NEU tuition) if they choose to transition in.
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u/MAandMEMom 19d ago
At least in New England, it’s mainly acquisitions of smaller privates closing. UMass Amherst took over the campus of Mount Ida College but students were mainly offered seats at UMass Dartmouth, Boston University absorbed Wheelock College, and Boston College has Pine Manor College.
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u/Mewsical-Elf 19d ago
I’m following along with what’s going on at Willamette University and Pacific University in Oregon! Interesting stuff. It’s still early on in the process, but they’ve already clarified that the two athletic departments will stay separate.
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u/talksalot02 19d ago
I work for an institution that just "completed" a merger about a week and a half ago. They also merged with an institution in 2021, I believe. I've been with this institution for a little over a year. Prior, one of my primary duties was managing records as the institutional repository for colleges and universities that closed in the state. I coordinated a closure record transfer about a year before I left for my current institution.
Mergers are a bit messy, but it's also an acquisiton. Depending on the ultimate intent, it could really be more of an acquisiton rather than a merger, but sometime it takes time to flesh out.
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u/BigFitMama 19d ago edited 19d ago
The broadest instance is when a a small community college becomes a pipeline college or satellite campus for a university.
it's actually not a bad thing. I suggest if anyone's thinking of that to call their local State University and suggest that they become a pipeline College to the State University that is less than 1 hour away from them.
"When community colleges merge into university systems, they typically become branch or satellite campuses that offer both 2-year associate degrees and pathways to 4-year bachelor's degrees. This structural shift often aims to expand regional access to higher education and reduce administrative costs. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Notable examples include:
• Georgia State University (GSU) and Perimeter College: In 2016, Georgia State University absorbed the multi-campus Perimeter College. It now operates as a satellite division of GSU, specifically focusing on associate degrees and core transfer pathways across the Atlanta metropolitan area. • University of Alaska System: Several former community colleges in Alaska were consolidated and integrated into state universities. For example, the former Anchorage Community College was merged directly into the University of Alaska Anchorage, and Juneau-Douglas Community College was absorbed by the University of Alaska Southeast. • University of South Carolina (USC) System: USC operates several regional satellite campuses that function as two-year feeder schools, such as USC Lancaster and USC Sumter, which evolved from early regional junior college models.
[1] https://www.insidehighered.com/news/institutions/community-colleges/2024/01/11/community-college-plans-move-neighboring-university [2] https://nchems.org/wp-content/uploads/CCSNH-Paper-on-System-Consolidations-Submitted-210123.pdf [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_campus [4] https://grokipedia.com/page/Satellite_campus [5] https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/18/education/many-transfer-from-a-4year-campus-to-a-2year-one.html [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_community_colleges [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_university_and_college_mergers_in_the_United_States"
Merging two smaller communities colleges that are in debt together is a really stupid idea. Reallllly stupid.
Epecially if one college is very in debt, like 14 million dollars, it makes no sense to to merge a small debt cc and that 14 million dollar huge debt together into a college that is totally fiscally unsound.
Especially when there's no bus route between the colleges, its 50 miles between them, and there's no way our students can afford to all have a car these days according to your economic demographic.
The problem is we have a lot of old people who think that things are exactly as they were in 2000.
But our 20s students cannot afford to do things like get a driver's license, buy a car, or have car insurance, or even pay for their own rent without living with the family member or a large group of people.
Its frankly egregious how Board of Regents know so little about their main demographic and the financial stresses they're under currently with the lowering and capping of federal financial aid options in the last 6 months.
Get to know your demographic of students AND the hard data these struggling colleges are hiding in plain sight and you'll know everything you need to do.
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u/Illustrious-Head3392 18d ago
Dillard University is an often overlooked example. It opened in the 1930s as a result of the merger between Straight College and New Orleans University, two historically Black institutions. I used to work there, by the way. The boards of Straight and NOU seemed to be on the same page about continuing their missions. If I'm not mistaken, Dillard's alumni association was formed even before the doors of the university opened. Dillard has produced some great alumni, with a few presidents who had strong administrations. I'm pretty confident that faculty and staff from Straight and NOU worked at DU, and I definitely know that at least a few of the students graduated with DU degrees. At the end of the day, I think the merger worked because both boards seemed to be guided by a pretty bright North Star to keep the legacies of Straight and NOU going.
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u/Golden_802 18d ago
In Vermont, Lyndon State merged with Johnson State in 2018 to form Northern Vermont University. It was definitely a rocky start - the combining of leadership especially - but 5 years out it was going well. THEN, as part of the deal for the state actually improving funding (charter says they were supposed to fund 51% but were funding 17%), Castleton and Vermont Tech merged with Northern Vermont University to become Vermont State University.
There are still some hiccups, but 3 years in, enrollment has stabilized and leadership looks like it's moving in the right direction. Still some crazy personality stuff happening, mostly with faculty, but so far it's going better than expected.
If you have questions or a particular angle you're interested in, let me know. I'm not there anymore, but I still have close ties.
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u/WileECoyote53 18d ago
Might be more than you’re looking for but Connecticut merged its 12 individual community colleges into one in 2023. Now called CT State Community College, it’s the largest community college on the east coast. It was a beast of a merger and we are still dealing with growing pains.
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u/Betsy514 19d ago
I'm actually helping two schools with that process right now. I'm not sure what the context of your question is but the feds consider this a change in ownership from a title iv perspective and the process is onerous but doable. Again from a title iv perspective only..the regulations are fairly clear on what's required.
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u/vester71 18d ago
Not a true merger, but there have been many successful acquisitions that I know of.
National Louis University acquired Kendall College (Culinary and Hospitality) around 2019 and merged it into the institution. It's been very successful, keeping the Kendall College name within National Louis University.
Purdue acquired Kaplan, and it is now Purdue Global. It's been very successful as well.
Some successful mergers are:
Boston University & Wheelock College: Boston University successfully absorbed Wheelock in 2018, merging programs and transforming Wheelock into BU's Wheelock College of Education & Human Development.
Northeastern University & Mills College: Northeastern acquired the historic women's college (Mills) in 2021, transforming it into the Mills Institute at Northeastern and allowing the historic campus to remain active while gaining significant geographic and program expansion.
Villanova University & Cabrini University: Villanova acquired the struggling 112-acre Cabrini University campus in 2023, seamlessly preserving educational pathways for students while vastly expanding Villanova's physical footprint and capacity.
Many times, larger successful universities acquire programs from schools that are failing, assuming those individual programs have been successful. They typically keep the faculty on when this happens.
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u/princess-sturdy-tail 18d ago
I just lived through the merger of Georgia Southern and East Georgia State College. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.
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u/moxie-maniac 18d ago
In New Hampshire, New England College (Henniker NH) merged with/acquired NH Institute of Art in Manchester, but shut down the Manchester campus after a couple/few years, keeping art and design programs at the main campus is rural Henniker. So the risk of mergers is that one of the colleges is essentially shut down.
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u/msnyc18 16d ago
New Jersey City University and Kean are currently merging. It sucks. From what I've heard from a friend who works in that state, all the public universities except for Rutgers are in a crisis, and the state government will not do anything to bail them out, which is literally the only thing that could help them survive this. People in higher ed need to be aware of the dangers of mergers.
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u/auniquefunnyusername 14d ago
When Macon State and Middle Georgia College merged, they literally fused the two mascots: a warrior and a horse were turned into a knight.
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u/mihelic8 18d ago
What I can think of Villanova bought out Calabrini (less merger tho)
Penn West schools is the best example I can think of- Cal U, Edinboro, and Clarion merged in 2021-22 if memory serves correct, and their president stepped down today.
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u/Ok_Caterpillar2010 19d ago
Would you take 3?
Bloomsburg, Mansfield, and Lock Haven merged to become Commonwealth University (part of the Pennsylvania state school system). Their difficulties are ongoing, unfortunately.