Has any college (private or state-funded) had to close its doors permanently for any reason? If so, why? Thanks, millions.
Sure. I just googled “Defunct Colleges.” and got several hits. Here is one from Iowa.
In Weird New Jersey (the magazine, I think, not the book) there atre pictuires of a college that closed down, and is now an overgrown wastekland.
I heard about another college recently that announced its closing, I think in the Pacific Northwest. It certainly happens. If your costs exceed your endowments and fees a college can go under as surely as any other business.
There’s bunches out there. …or used to be at least.
This might help…here’s a list of closed colleges by state:
Didn’t a fairly large number of colleges shut down permanently as a result of the Civil War? I know plenty (probably most?) had severe problems for obvious reasons but I was thinking that there was a significant number that never recovered and closed permanently.
Phillips University was formerly located in Enid, Oklahoma. It closed down maybe 7 or 8 years ago, though I believe there is still a Phillips Seminary here in Tulsa somewhere (maybe in Bartlesville?). The University in Enid closed due to “financial reasons” which I assume were related to declining enrollment and probably a total lack of interest in the university.
I was at a college fair once where my table was located near Phillips U. The rep had a stuffed skunk (like a toy, not taxidermy) and she’d play with it and pretend to menace passersby with it. You know, P.U. isn’t that funny, ha ha. It was really something.
Upsala ! That’s the New Jersey college that closed. Here’s the site from Captain Amazing’s post.
The pictures in Weird NJ are really depressing – for a place that closed down not all that long ago it’s fallen fast, although from some angles the buildings look almost new. You’d think they’d be able to do something with a campus of buildings like this besides letting them fall into ruin.
There was a Doper who posted about his college closing while he was mid-way through. I think it abruptly closed after last spring and all the students were sort of on their own. Wish I could remember the name of the Doper or the thread (think it was in MPSIMS if anyone remembers).
Not mentioned in the “ClosedColleges” link: Emory U. disbanded its dental school in 1988.
The decrepitude of the Uppsala campus was highlighted in a “Dirty Jobs” show, in which Mike Rowe helps with some demolition work there and salvages a very dirty toilet.
Yes, and I can’t find it! It was only a few months ago. Someone must remember more.
Bradford Colllege in Haverhill, Massachusetts has only been out of business since 2000, but is already thought by some to be haunted.
I can confirm the campus looks like hell already.
What happens to the campus when this happens?
Look up at my earlier posts and ElvisL1ves’ post just above. Sometimes it simply goes to hell, fast. I’d like to think some can be reclaimed, because otherwise it’s just a waste.
Probably some professors who still refuse to give up tenure! :eek:
We had several colleges here in Murfreesboro close.
One was a Young Men’s Military Academy. Its land weas sold to cover its debts, & houses are there now.
A Woman’s College donated its buildings, books & land to the City after a nasty dorm fire killed a lot of students. State Universities had opened to women anyhow. The land is the site of a High School today.
A co-worker of mine is an alumnus of Southampton College in New York. Apparently the school closed after years of financial failing and sold its campus to the state university system (it’s now SUNY Stony Brook.)
Southampton apparently had some sort of connection with Long Island University, which still exists, so I don’t know if this counts.
as already noted, a variety of things. One I knew off the top of my head was Alliance College in Cambridge Springs, Pa. The State purchased it and converted it into a minimum security women’s prison:
Death of a University by GargoyleWB.
One “notable” one from the neck of the woods where I grew up was Milton College in Milton, Wisconsin. It closed in 1982, but lived on for many, many years longer in NFL broadcasts because quarterback Dave Krieg was an alumni.