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Mount Ida College announced Friday that it will shut down and its campus will become part of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Students in good standing will be eligible for automatic admission to the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, where they have been assured they can finish their degrees.
Mount Ida has been struggling financially and looking for new options. In February it announced discussions with Lasell College about a possible merger. But those discussions ended last month.
The discussions came at a time when a number of colleges are considering mergers and some have closed. Small private colleges without substantial endowments have been particularly challenged by the current economy.
A statement from the college's board said, "The financial situation facing small private colleges nationwide is a difficult one. Despite extraordinary growth and progress over the last several years, Mount Ida, like its peers, is vulnerable to the realities of having limited resources. As a result, we have considered multiple options to secure the strongest possible long-term future for our students."
