Some rural non secular faculties search mergers, consolidation : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5799x3866+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F75%2Fca%2Fa3446f8c497d8ee10b17f7083b8e%2Fhe-religious-colleges-34.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5799x3866+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F75%2Fca%2Fa3446f8c497d8ee10b17f7083b8e%2Fhe-religious-colleges-34.jpg" class="img" alt="Students of St. Ambrose University, photographed from behind, attend Mass. A crucifix is on the wall in the background." fetchpriority="high"/> Wednesday evening Mass at St. Ambrose College attracts a congregation of principally college students. On one latest night, they added a prayer for the college's new partnership with Mount Mercy College. Mike Rundle for The Hechinger Report conceal caption

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Mike Rundle for The Hechinger Report <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1080x1080+420+0/resize/100/quality/100/format/png/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F32%2F81%2Fbc9504094342927bb78875068e81%2Fmarcus-demographic-cliff-01-feat.png" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1080x1080+420+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F32%2F81%2Fbc9504094342927bb78875068e81%2Fmarcus-demographic-cliff-01-feat.png" data-format="png" class="img lazyOnLoad" alt="This photo illustration shows a black-and-white photo of a low, wide brick college building with two rows of windows and several white columns at the front entrance. Five students wearing graduation gowns stand in front of the building with their backs to the camera. The middle student is just a bright yellow silhouette." loading="lazy"/>

DAVENPORT, Iowa — The Catholic prayer for the devoted echoed off the limestone partitions and marble ground of the high-ceilinged chapel.

The prayer implored God to consolation the poor and the hungry. The sick and the struggling. The anxious and the afraid.

Then it took an surprising flip.

"Lord, hear our prayer for St. Ambrose and Mount Mercy College," the younger voice stated, "that the grace of the Holy Spirit could assist us to observe God's plan for our new partnership."

The speaker, a scholar, was speaking about efforts to unite St. Ambrose College, the place this weeknight Mass was being held, with fellow Catholic college Mount Mercy.

Small non secular faculties in rural states are shutting down at an accelerating charge, a destiny these two try to keep away from.

"Lord, hear our prayer," responded the congregation of her classmates, many in St. Ambrose-branded T-shirts and hoodies.

The 2 universities are among the many many religiously affiliated faculties that disproportionately serve rural America and are going through declining enrollment and monetary challenges. The troubles threaten to additional diminish entry to increased schooling for rural college students, who say they recognize their faculties' private contact and spiritual values.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5756x3837+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8c%2Fa1%2F45a6c854469d8df8d806b8f463d8%2Fhe-religious-colleges-13.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5756x3837+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8c%2Fa1%2F45a6c854469d8df8d806b8f463d8%2Fhe-religious-colleges-13.jpg" class="img" alt="Our Mother of Sorrows Grotto on the campus of Mount Mercy University" loading="lazy"/> Our Mom of Sorrows Grotto on the campus of Mount Mercy College. The college is combining with St. Ambrose College, one other Catholic establishment, as small, rural and religiously affiliated faculties face enrollment declines. Mike Rundle for The Hechinger Report conceal caption

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Mike Rundle for The Hechinger Report "I got here from a small city, so I did not actually need to go larger," stated Alaina Bina, a junior majoring in nursing at Mount Mercy. She stated she picked the college as a result of she favored its small, hilly campus. "Even after I got here right here on a tour, individuals would say 'Hello' to one another. You simply know everybody, and that is sort of how it's in a small city too."

Combining with St. Ambrose "was sort of nerve-racking at first," Bina stated, "as a result of it is like, 'Oh, it is a lot of change.'"

A mixture of monetary and demographic challenges However the heads of each St. Ambrose and Mount Mercy, which is 90 minutes away in Cedar Rapids, stated they've watched as different religiously affiliated faculties — athletic rivals and establishments that employed their buddies and former colleagues — closed.

With falling numbers of school candidates, particularly within the Midwest, "we simply do not have the demographics anymore," stated St. Ambrose President Amy Novak. Now, as fewer graduates emerge from excessive faculties, combining forces is a strategy to forestall "the fact that we would all see in 5 or seven years."

For a lot of different small, religiously affiliated establishments, time has already run out.

Greater than half the 79 nonprofit faculties and universities which have closed or merged since 2020, or introduced that they'll shut or merge, had been religiously affiliated, based on a Hechinger Report evaluation of reports protection and federal information. Greater than 30 which can be nonetheless in enterprise are on a U.S. Training Division listing of establishments thought of "not financially accountable" due to comparatively low money reserves and web revenue and excessive ranges of debt.

Some small, religiously affiliated establishments that aren't on these lists are additionally displaying indicators of pressure. Saint Augustine's College in North Carolina, which is Episcopal, has 200 college students, down from 1,100 two years in the past, and has misplaced its accreditation.

The 166-year-old St. Francis Faculty in New York Metropolis, has sacked 1 / 4 of its workers. Saint Louis College in Missouri, one of many United States' oldest Catholic universities, laid off 20 workers, eradicated 130 unfilled college and workers positions and offered off its medical apply after operating a deficit.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3726x5589+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F20%2Fed%2F01ad749448e5963537e5bbcfe0e6%2Fhe-religious-colleges-07.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3726x5589+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F20%2Fed%2F01ad749448e5963537e5bbcfe0e6%2Fhe-religious-colleges-07.jpg" class="img" alt="In this photo, Alaina Bina is seated outdoors on the campus of Mount Mercy University. She's wearing jeans and a navy blue sweatshirt. In the background is a building that says Martin-Herold College of Nursing & Health on it." loading="lazy"/> Alaina Bina, a junior nursing main at Mount Mercy College, stated she selected the religiously affiliated faculty as a result of she favored that it was small: "Even after I got here right here on a tour, individuals would say 'Hello' to one another." Mike Rundle for The Hechinger Report conceal caption

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Mike Rundle for The Hechinger Report Different non secular campuses making cuts or going through monetary headwinds embody Bluffton College in Ohio, St. Norbert Faculty in Wisconsin and Georgetown Faculty in Kentucky.

Amongst these which can be additionally merging to buttress themselves towards demographic and monetary challenges are Ursuline Faculty in Ohio and Gannon College in Erie, Pennsylvania. Each are Catholic. Spring Hill Faculty in Alabama and Rockhurst College in Missouri, additionally each Catholic, are teaming as much as provide extra tutorial packages, although they'll stay impartial.

Greater than a fifth of faculties and universities in america, or 849 out of three,893, are religiously affiliated, based on the newest figures from the Nationwide Middle for Training Statistics.

Efforts to work collectively on options The threats to them are getting new consideration. Presidents of 20 Catholic universities and faculties met in November in Chicago at a convention sponsored by DePaul College.

"The intent was to consider a blueprint for the way forward for Catholic increased schooling," together with extra partnerships, shared providers and different kinds of alliances, stated Donna Carroll, president of the Affiliation of Catholic Faculties and Universities. "Survival of the fittest isn't the technique that can advance the frequent good of Catholic increased schooling. We have now to work collectively."

The American Council on Training, the principal affiliation of universities and faculties, final yr launched a Fee on Religion-Based mostly Faculties and Universities, with leaders of what has since grown to 17 establishments, together with Pepperdine, Brigham Younger and Yeshiva universities and the College of Notre Dame.

The fee's purpose is "to extend visibility for the vital contributions of non secular and faith-based faculties and universities and to foster collaboration" amongst them.

Some non secular faculties and universities are doing fantastic and even posting enrollment positive aspects — no less than partially due to rising political divisions, campus protests and ideological assaults on secular establishments, stated David Hoag, president of the Council for Christian Faculties & Universities.

Mother and father are "wanting to place their son or daughter at a protected place that is going to have a biblical worldview or a approach to take a look at challenges that is not polarized," Hoag stated. "At our establishments, you are not going to be seeing protests or issues which can be occurring at many of those [other] universities and faculties. You are going to see them rallying collectively, whether or not it is for a sporting occasion or for a revival or baptisms."

Different traits additionally provide some hope to religiously affiliated faculties and universities. An extended decline within the proportion of adults who think about themselves affiliated with a faith seems to have leveled off, the Pew Analysis Middle finds. And whereas enrollment at parochial faculties that feed graduates to Catholic universities fell greater than 10% from 2017 to 2021, the newest yr for which a determine is on the market, the variety of college students at different kinds of non secular major and secondary faculties is up.

Even religiously affiliated establishments going through enrollment declines and monetary woes fill an vital function, their advocates say. They typically serve low-income college students who're the primary of their households to go to school and who're reluctant to enroll at massive public universities.

Many are in rural areas the place entry to increased schooling is restricted and is turning into even scarcer as public universities in rural states merge or shut, or lower dozens of majors.

"I do know youngsters from very small cities round Iowa," just like the one the place he grew up, stated Todd Olson, president of Mount Mercy, above the sound of trains crossing Cedar Rapids exterior his window. "This campus is a way more snug place for them."

When Jacob Lange arrived at St. Ambrose from East Dubuque, Sick., and attended a Mass on campus, "impulsively all these new individuals I had by no means met had been sort of chatting with me, and it was actually sort of good," he stated. "It felt like I used to be sort of included."

His dad and mom additionally favored that he determined to go to a Catholic college, Lange stated. "You realize, you go to considered one of these huge faculties with 25,000 youngsters, and also you're sort of nervous about your child — like, what sort of dumb issues is he going to rise up to?"

Catholic universities specifically have a barely increased four-year commencement charge than the nationwide common, based on the Middle for Catholic Research at St. Mary's College in Texas. Graduates have a stronger sense of group goal, the middle present in a survey. Alumni are 9 proportion factors extra more likely to say they take part in civic actions than their counterparts at nonreligious universities and faculties.

Extra college students at religiously affiliated than at secular establishments obtain monetary assist, the American Council on Training says. Three out of 5 get scholarships from the universities themselves, in contrast with fewer than 1 in 4 at different kinds of faculties.

At each Mount Mercy and St. Ambrose, which have about 1,450 and a pair of,700 college students, respectively, 100% get monetary assist.

However these advantages for college students may be vulnerabilities for budgets, stated Novak, of St. Ambrose.

"We serve the poor. We educate the poor," she stated. "That could be a dangerous monetary proposition in the intervening time for small, regional establishments which can be largely tuition pushed."

Combining means Mount Mercy and St. Ambrose will have the ability to streamline their administrations, consolidate their buying and provide a bigger collective variety of majors and programs, together with graduate packages that college students from one can proceed into on the different.

The threats to those campuses in rural areas stem largely from the downturn within the already quick provide of highschool graduates selecting to enroll. The proportion of such college students going straight to school has fallen much more sharply in lots of largely rural states.

Whereas they're beneficiant with their monetary assist, religiously affiliated faculties are additionally typically costlier than many different increased schooling establishments, at a time when many households are questioning the return on their investments in tuition.

What college students pay in web tuition and costs averages $25,416 a yr, based on the American Council on Training. That compares with a median web tuition and costs of $16,510 at personal, nonprofit four-year establishments general.

St. Ambrose and Mount Mercy are teaming up from positions of relative energy. Publicly out there monetary paperwork counsel that neither faces the instant enrollment or monetary crises that threaten many comparable establishments.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3417x5126+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fdd%2Fdc%2F99951af34f259103aedc97afe1c3%2Fhe-religious-colleges-11.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3417x5126+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fdd%2Fdc%2F99951af34f259103aedc97afe1c3%2Fhe-religious-colleges-11.jpg" class="img" alt="This photo shows Nasharia Patterson, Mount Mercy University's student government president. She's seated indoors on steps and is wearing dark jeans and a light blue sweatshirt. She has a brace on one wrist from an awkward back-tuck basket catch during cheer practice." loading="lazy"/> Nasharia Patterson, Mount Mercy College's scholar authorities president, stated protecting Mount Mercy's and St. Ambrose's athletic groups separate "offers us a chunk of Mount Mercy particularly to only maintain on to." Mike Rundle for The Hechinger Report conceal caption

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Mike Rundle for The Hechinger Report However their leaders say they're attempting to fend off issues that would come up later. By becoming a member of forces, every can improve its variety of packages whereas decreasing working prices.

The response amongst college students and alumni has been combined.

Maintaining separate sports activities groups College students nervous about what title would seem on their levels and whether or not sports activities groups that after competed towards one another can be merged. The levels will nonetheless say "Mount Mercy" or "St. Ambrose," and Novak and Olson promised to maintain their athletics packages separate and even add a sport at Mount Mercy: soccer, starting in 2026.

Combining sports activities groups "wouldn't be sensible in any respect from a enterprise perspective," Olson stated, as a result of they're "a strong enrollment driver" for each faculties.

"Actually, this was most likely the largest scholar concern," stated Nasharia Patterson, the coed authorities president at Mount Mercy, who was sporting a brace on her wrist from a clumsy back-tuck basket catch throughout cheer apply. Maintaining the athletics groups "offers us a chunk of Mount Mercy particularly to only maintain on to."

Amongst alumni, in the meantime, "there's combined emotions" about what's occurring to their alma mater, stated Sarah Watson, a management growth guide who graduated from Mount Mercy in 2008.

Nonetheless, she stated, "I do know the nice challenges that increased ed is going through proper now. It isn't simply Mount Mercy. It isn't simply St. Ambrose. It is the larger faculties too. Enrollment numbers have dropped. The need to go to a conventional four-year faculty is simply not fairly what it was once."

For Mount Mercy, which was based by an order of nuns in 1928, Watson requested, "If we do not do that, what is the various? We need to be round for one more hundred years."

In spite of everything, stated Novak, St. Ambrose's president, "to observe universities shut throughout the heartland as a result of we will not make it work will go away our communities fallow."

Carroll, of the Affiliation of Catholic Faculties and Universities, stated that many different religiously affiliated establishments are carefully watching what's occurring at St. Ambrose and Mount Mercy.

"It is a leap of religion," she stated. "And who higher to take a leap of religion than a Catholic establishment?"

Contact author Jon Marcus at 212-678-7556 or jmarcus@hechingerreport.org.

This story about non secular faculties and universities was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, impartial information group targeted on inequality and innovation in schooling.