School of Saint Rose board votes to shut faculty

ALBANY — After 103 years, The School of Saint Rose is closing its doorways.

The college’s Board of Trustees voted Thursday to shut on the finish of the tutorial yr after the Might 11 commencement. Saint Rose interim President Marcia White confirmed the choice in a letter to the campus neighborhood Thursday night.

“The closure of Saint Rose is actually heartbreaking for all of us who care deeply concerning the historical past and legacy of this establishment and the extraordinary college students we serve and have served for 103 years,” White acknowledged in a letter to college students and workers, noting that she had hoped to share the data at a campus assembly Friday earlier than the information was leaked to the media.

The closure means a whole lot of individuals will lose their jobs, college students shall be compelled to switch to different faculties, and 87 properties — nearly all of them clustered within the Pine Hills neighborhood — shall be left vacant.

In fall 2022, there have been 118 full-time college and 107 part-time college, in accordance with the Nationwide Middle for Training Statistics. There are 500 to 600 workers in whole.

For the town of Albany, the closure — first reported by WNYT — additionally means the faculty’s properties within the one sq. block of Madison Avenue, Western Avenue and Partridge Avenue will turn out to be empty. Most of them are zoned “multi-use — campus/establishments,” which permits all kinds of choices, from residential to retail.

The school has grappled with shaky funds for years as its enrollment steadily dropped. In 2020, its accreditor started requiring the faculty to supply proof of “improved monetary viability” yearly. In June, the Center States Fee on Greater Training stated the faculty’s accreditation was in jeopardy due to its fiscal scenario. Saint Rose was given six months to make enhancements and a Jan. 16, 2024, deadline to indicate that it had sufficient cash to proceed working. 

However officers remained publicly optimistic. After the Occasions Union heard rumblings within the fall of the faculty in dire straits, spokeswoman Denise Dagnino responded to questions on an imminent closure by saying, “Issues are going effectively — thanks for asking. The ladies’s soccer staff is undefeated and it’s enterprise as ordinary over right here. There isn’t a plan to announce that the faculty is closing.”

The closing might be devastating to some college students, who will wrestle to search out one other faculty the place they will end their diploma.

In response to a 2022 examine by The State Greater Training Government Officers Affiliation and The Nationwide Pupil Clearinghouse Analysis Middle, solely 47 p.c of scholars at faculties that closed transferred to a different establishment, per the report written. Of those that did switch, 26 p.c took at the very least a yr off earlier than returning to school. Which means solely a few third of scholars instantly continued their training after their faculty closed.

For college students at The School of Saint Rose, the following step shall be to use instantly for switch subsequent fall to a different faculty if they aren’t on monitor to graduate by Might 2024. (The deadline to switch for spring 2024 was October for many four-year schools, however many neighborhood schools do rolling admissions, and UAlbany’s deadline is Friday.)

Faculties that shut are required to create “teach-out” agreements with different faculties prepared to simply accept their college students and their educational credit. In some instances, the agreements embody a “seamless switch” course of.

Whereas most schools will settle for all credit from different faculties, some lessons are accepted as electives — a discrepancy that teach-out agreements attempt to keep away from. Nonetheless, when Cazenovia School closed final yr, a few of its teach-out schools warned college students that they’d solely settle for credit from lessons with curriculum just like theirs and wherein the scholar bought at the very least a C grade.

Additionally, every teach-out faculty won’t supply each program that was provided at The School of Saint Rose, so college students might be required to decide on among the many ones that provide their program. They will additionally apply to any faculty for the standard switch. In any case, they need to focus on their credit with the admissions counselors for that faculty to ensure they are going to preserve all their credit.

Prices, particularly when it comes to scholarships and monetary help, can even range extensively. College students can apply for scholarships and help, simply as they did when making use of to The School of Saint Rose, however they could not get the identical bundle.

Issues had been good within the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties. Enrollment rose 53 p.c, the scholar physique included college students from greater than 30 international locations, and the Science Middle and Music Middle opened.

Underneath President R. Mark Sullivan’s management from 1996 to 2012, the faculty spent greater than $100 million on new amenities, whereas additionally demolishing a lot of buildings amid outcry from the neighborhood.

The college seemed to be booming: The variety of first-year college students doubled and the endowment grew sevenfold whereas donors contributed $42 million for capital tasks.

However simply two years after his tenure, the faculty started publicly acknowledging monetary issues. Then-college President Carolyn Stefanco got here underneath fireplace when she minimize applications to scale back a described $9 million to $12 million finances hole. Her 2015 restructuring plan included cuts to greater than two dozen applications on the faculty and the elimination of 23 college positions. College pushed for her ouster, saying they need to have had enter into the cuts. She finally stepped down.

Cuts have continued underneath White’s management. In 2020, she stated extra cuts had been obligatory to attain a balanced finances by 2023. The college eradicated one other 25 applications and 41 college positions, in addition to administrative cuts, designed to save lots of $13 million.

But it surely was all predicated on enrollment stabilizing. As a substitute, enrollment continued to drop. In 2020, there have been 2,200 undergraduates, in accordance with the State Training Division. Federal statistics say the faculty had about 1,800 undergraduates in 2022, and that quantity continued to drop this fall.

College members are amongst these absorbing this newest flip of occasions.

“Because the union for the School of Saint Rose’s roughly 140 adjunct college, instructing artists, and visiting college, we’re deeply saddened by the information that Saint Rose will shut on the conclusion of this educational yr. It is a large loss for the college, workers, college students, alumni, and the complete Capital District. We could have extra to say shifting ahead, however within the quick time period, our union will work with the Saint Rose administration to mitigate the impression on our members who shall be unemployed come Might 2024,” Sean Collins, union consultant for SEIU Native 200 United, stated in an announcement.

Native politicians additionally acknowledge the wide-ranging implications of college’s closure.

Upon listening to reviews concerning the faculty board’s vote, the state’s Capital Area Delegation, which incorporates Sen. Neil Breslin and Assemblymembers Patricia Fahy and John T. McDonald, III, launched a joint assertion acknowledging Saint Rose’s 103-year historical past; its significance to its college students, workers and the larger neighborhood; and the “outsized” impression of its closure.

“We’ve labored with Saint Rose to search out options as quickly as they engaged with us and sadly any attainable avenues to maintain the School open have been exhausted regardless of our greatest efforts,” they stated.

The group additionally stated it’s “dedicated to working with companions to make sure that Saint Rose’s flagship educational applications similar to training, nursing, forensic psychology, and felony justice are acquired by different schools and universities, together with, most significantly, a seamless transition for present college students and school.”

Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan and Albany County Government Daniel P. McCoy launched a joint assertion as effectively: “We’re in shut communication with metropolis and county stakeholders, state and native authorities leaders, academia, and builders to make sure that we’re all working collectively to reimagine the CSR campus to reduce the impression of the faculty’s closure,” they stated. “Within the coming weeks and months, we can even work with the faculty’s workers to attach them to job alternatives with the town, county, and different native employers by job festivals and different occasions.

“Collectively, we are going to work to create new alternatives and financial development for Albany and our whole area.”