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Siena Heights University will close next year due to insurmountable financial pressures.
University officials announced Monday that the private, Catholic institution in Michigan, founded in 1919, will officially cease operations at the end of the 2025–26 academic year. President Douglas B. Palmer attributed the closure decision to an untenable financial situation.
“It is just not possible to continue beyond this next year,” Palmer said in a video message.
The most recent audit for Siena Heights noted “significant doubt” about the university’s ability to remain open as it struggled to maintain its debt obligations. The university had planned to reduce tuition discounting rates and review program offerings to identify potential cost savings.
Like many small, private colleges, Siena Heights also faced enrollment challenges in recent years.
Monday’s closure announcement comes despite a record-breaking freshman class of 445 students in 2024. Despite the positive turn last fall, Siena Heights’ enrollment has declined over the last decade. While the latest federal enrollment data lists 1,832 students enrolled in fall 2023, that represents a significant drop from a recent high of 2,707 in 2015.
The institution’s sponsoring order, Adrian Dominican Sisters, issued a statement urging a smooth closure process.
“A high priority for us Adrian Dominican Sisters, as the religious sponsors of the institution, is that the University closes honorably—attending, especially, to the needs and concerns of all members of the Siena Heights community,” members said. “It means providing students, faculty and staff with this yearlong notice of the closing and assurances that every effort will be made to support them in their transitions to other educational and employment opportunities. It also means providing a vibrant final academic year, especially for the Siena Class of 2026.”
