No Good Time to Close a University

There is no good time in the calendar year to announce a closure of a university. Such an announcement will be immediately met with a vast array of feelings ranging from anger to grief, all of which should be validated.

We considered a variety of factors in planning for the June 2023 announcement of Cabrini University’s impending closure. We planned to offer on-site and virtual counseling and mental health support for students and employees and created in advance a website with video content, a press release and FAQs for employees, students, alumni and donors. Leaders who would be delivering the news and answering questions received training from crisis communication professionals, helping them to be emotionally and mentally prepared for a potentially hostile and volatile response.

We shared the news—two business days earlier than expected, after the news leaked and began to spread on social media—with faculty and staff in a large town hall meeting, followed by small breakout sessions for each division. Students and families received the information via email and the university website, followed by a series of online webinars with an opportunity for Q and A. Once students returned to campus, face-to-face large group and individual meetings continued.

Identifying Partner Institutions

We knew that providing students with a clear path to graduation needed to be our top priority. Prior to the closure announcement, Cabrini’s president and dean of academic affairs met with the presidents of three potential partner institutions (Eastern, Gwynedd Mercy and Holy Family Universities), who each agreed to accept Cabrini students, match Cabrini’s tuition, honor students’ financial aid packages to ensure they would not take on additional debt, award credit for all completed coursework regardless of grade (except where required for a certification) and teach out students to graduation. An eventual fourth institution (Ursinus College) joined us as a partner. Additionally, we identified some program partner colleges for unique programs like music industry and graphic design, in order to provide at least two teach-out options for every major. Given that Cabrini announced its closure in June 2023 but remained open through the 2023–24 academic year, students had to return and complete the final academic year at Cabrini to take advantage of the agreements outlined through clear memorandums of understanding with each partner institution.

Based on this process, we’ve identified steps leaders at other institutions should consider as they go about identifying partner institutions and negotiating teach-out agreements:

• Evaluate the financial position of potential partner institutions to ensure financial stability. While nothing is guaranteed, students should not have to live through two college closures. Cabrini had students enrolled who had already experienced a closure prior to transferring to Cabrini.
• Establish enough agreements that students have at least two options for their program of study, but not so many options that students experience choice overload and avoid deciding where to attend.
• Keep the number of partner colleges limited enough that the partnership will also benefit the partner institution in terms of enrollment. The partner colleges will invest resources to support the transition of students, and this process should support their overall efforts.

• Select partner colleges with qualities similar to your institution (e.g., location, faith tradition, size, rigor, support for students with learning differences or disabilities, athletic division, etc.).
• Place all oral agreements in writing within the MOU.
• Identify an individual(s) at each institution to represent their institution’s voice in the creation of the MOU.
• Approach the creation of MOUs with the understanding that the architects of such documents may leave the institution before the entire agreement is fulfilled. As a result, ensure clarity of language in the document(s).
• Establish an agreed-upon price and pace to completion for students who pursue a teach-out, ideally one that matches your institution’s. We turned down partnering with colleges that would not agree to financially support Cabrini students.
• Arrange for multiple meetings with all stakeholder offices (registrar, admissions, financial aid, academic affairs, etc.) to operationalize the MOU. Consider how transcripts, degree audits and financial aid information will flow between institutions with releases from students.
• Try to have all partner colleges identified early in the closure process. Adding more later will confuse students who are trying to make decisions and will feel unfair to those who already made a choice.
• Be prepared for nonpartner institutions to approach your students with misleading appeals. Equip students with questions to ask to ensure they are making an informed choice.

Supporting Students

When Cabrini’s academic affairs leadership learned that the university would be closing, we read Mary L. Churchill and David J. Chard’s When Colleges Close and devoured every Chronicle and Inside Higher Ed article on closures. One of Cabrini’s trustees said, “There has to be a playbook for this.” Unfortunately, there is not. That said, the statistics on the outcomes for students who attended a closed college—one study found that fewer than half (47.1 percent) of students who experienced a closure re-enrolled in postsecondary education—haunted us and drove us to create a plan to beat that statistic.

From the time of the announcement in June until students returned to campus in August, the academic affairs leadership team focused on advising special populations of students such as international students, nursing majors, student athletes and students utilizing Cabrini’s Accessibility Resource Center, as these students had unique needs when considering their next steps. When students returned to campus in the fall, academic advisers met with seniors and graduate students to ensure they were on track for program completion. Department chairs met to review what courses students needed to take in the winter and spring terms to complete their programs, matching student needs with course offerings to ensure they were offering the correct number and mix of courses.

Any seniors or graduate students who were not on track for a realistic May 2024 degree completion were directed to a one-to-one meeting with a professional adviser. In the meeting, advisers reviewed the partner college options, as well as a checklist of questions for students to ask if they opted for a traditional transfer to a nonpartner institution, including questions about transfer credit evaluations and the total cost of attendance.

In addition to the one-to-one meetings, the partner colleges sent admissions and academic affairs representatives to Cabrini’s campus to meet with students in Cabrini’s former admission office, and Cabrini provided transportation to open house events at the partner colleges in turn.

For students who didn’t show up for their one-to-one meeting, times were rescheduled. Follow-up second meetings were scheduled for students who needed more support. In the spring, Cabrini hosted a fair with all partner colleges visiting at the same time for students to have a one-stop shopping opportunity to make a final choice. As May approached, academic affairs leaders made classroom visits to talk with the small percentage of students who had not reported their next steps to offer support.

In the end, of the 799 students enrolled at Cabrini in spring 2024, 387 completed their degrees, 91 reported they were transferring to a nonpartner college, 236 were shifting to a partner institution, 50 indicated they were continuing their degree immediately after Cabrini but were still unsure where, three withdrew midterm, three planned to enter the workforce, three were choosing a different path (gap year, traveling), and 26 did not report.

In all, 79.4 percent of continuing students identified a clear destination to complete their undergraduate degree in fall 2024—considerably better than the 47.1 percent figure we worked so hard to beat.

Supporting Employees

At the same time, we were urgently focused on supporting our employees through the closure. With support from Villanova University, with whom we’d entered into an asset-purchase agreement (see part 1 of this series), Cabrini offered all full-time faculty a guaranteed year of employment, whether or not there were classes to teach (in just a few cases, faculty provided student advising support in lieu of teaching), and a retention bonus payable at the end of the academic year. Critical staff were offered retention bonuses tied to the necessity of continuing their roles, and all full-time staff let go in Cabrini’s final year were provided with severance based on length of employment and level of pay. By the end of the final academic year, some staff members were taking on new and multiple roles, which both helped with staffing gaps and prepared them well for advancement in their careers by equipping them with new skills.

Cabrini provided professional job-seeking resources, including information on résumé writing and networking, and individual career counseling, with each employee assigned a career coach. The university also networked with area institutions to proactively find opportunities for employees, and offered networking events for opportunities outside of higher education.

As the final year of operations unfolded, Cabrini held regular town hall meetings for faculty and staff, addressing topics such as changing benefits, unemployment compensation eligibility, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania employment resources and WARN Act letters and implications. While the university did not officially track employment outcomes, anecdotally, the majority of Cabrini employees had secured an opportunity by the time of the institution’s closure.

Editor’s note: The third and final installment of the series will be published next Wednesday.