Nearly 100 Year Old ‘Cincinnati Christian University’ Closes Down
“They wanted to make sure all the students could continue their higher education could be placed.”
Just as predicted, it is smaller, private schools which are most vulnerable. There is more of this to come.
WLWT News reports:
Cincinnati Christian University closes after nearly 100 years
A local university with a century’s worth of alumni is gone, and now, faculty and staff are looking for a new beginning.
The final classes at Cincinnati Christian University have come to an end, but the legacy of the school’s good work continues with alumni now helping staffers in this period of transition.
There is uncertainty on the Price Hill campus that was filled with students and learning for nearly 100 years. After last term’s final classes, at least 25 to 30 people are looking for work.
“They wanted to make sure all the students could continue their higher education could be placed. They’ve been very successful in that. They’ve done all of these things perfectly, and now they’re the ones who have been left with less,” said Shawn McMullen, who’s supporting displaced employees at CCU.
Mark and Evelyn Taylor met at CCU in 1968. Now, their shared love of Alma Mater is leading them to help employees displaced by the schools closing.
“Because of the great work the faculty and staff that stayed there has done, we want to something for them,” said Mark Taylor.
Neighboring schools are helping students continue their academic programs, but mid-year placements for teachers are difficult.
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Comments
Why did it close?
That would certainly be helpful to know. The referenced article doesn’t say, either.
(The sub-hed implies the poster knows, but they don’t state it.)
From an article @ Cincinnati.com:
faced with the possible loss of its accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission
They had financial difficulties, and their method of restructuring wasn’t acceptable to the accreditation board. So, they withdrew from the process, and ultimately closed.
There are a lot of small, Christian liberal arts colleges doing well. My alma mater, John Brown University, just concluded a 100+ million dollar fundraising campaign.
I don’t know the circumstances behind this college, but I have noticed that most of the small Christian colleges that are fading are the ones who have given up most of their Christianity.
Articles don’t say. May have had no serious degrees. Faculty is suspect like so many colleges today.
Not quite. Reading the actual documents from the accreditor is highly informative since they’re publicly available. I’d started with the action letter explaining the show cause order that the university basically couldn’t respond to. See: https://www.hlcommission.org/download/_BoardActionLetters/HLC%20Action%20Letter%20-%20Cincinnati%20Christian%20University%207.11.19.pdf
Cincinnati is unusal for the number of good universities and colleges: the University of Cincinnati and Xavier are the two big ones, closely followed by Thomas More, Mount St. Joseeph, and Hebrew Union. There is a lot of competition for students here, and I don’t know that CCU ever had a very strong reputation. I only knew it was here because I drove past it once. It’s not a school anyone talks about.
And I missed Cincinnati State, the community college option.
The details from the Higher Learning Commission in this case are fairly disturbing. The documents are collected on the university’s page here: https://www.hlcommission.org/component/directory/?Itemid=&Action=ShowBasic&instid=1773
In short they’re in unsustainable debt and their creditor bank is exercising an outsized degree of control as well as internal controls not functioning correctly for the running of the school. Reading the Action Letter companion to the Show Cause order gives a pretty gruesome account of the matter. Student records will wind up at Central Christian College of the Bible in Missouri when Cincinnati Christian University finally turns out the lights for the last time.