PHILADELPHIA (AP) 鈥 Katherine Anderson trekked from Texas to Philadelphia last year for a college program she couldn鈥檛 find anywhere else, combining the music business, entrepreneurship and technology. Two weeks ago, she received the startling news the university would be shutting down within days.
The closure of the University of the Arts has left her and 1,300 other students scrambling to find somewhere to go or something to do.
By the time the school announced its closure, many colleges had already cut off admissions for the fall. Anderson was accepted into the music industry program at nearby Drexel University, which she said wasn鈥檛 a perfect match, but 鈥渢he next best thing, I guess.鈥
鈥淏ecause of all that鈥檚 going on, I felt very pressured to make a decision as fast as possible,鈥 Anderson said. She is now suing the University of the Arts.
More colleges around the country have been closing as they cope with steep declines in enrollment, a consequence of both changing demographics and the . The closures in recent years have left tens of thousands of students in limbo 鈥 and at increased risk of never finishing their degrees at all.
Nationwide, private colleges have been closing at a rate of about two per month, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association.
Before announcing it would close, UArts, as it's often called, had trained musicians and artists, dancers and designers in Philadelphia for nearly 150 years. The school had suffered from plunging enrollment and said it was confronted with 鈥渟ignificant, unanticipated expenses鈥 that forced its closure. Several state and local investigations are underway into how the university ran out of money so suddenly.
鈥淲e have yet to receive the answer to that question,鈥 Lynette Kuhn, a high-ranking official in the Pennsylvania Department of Education, said Friday in an online information session for University of the Arts parents and students. Kuhn was responding to one of several questions posed by frustrated students about what university officials knew of its precarious finances 鈥 and what they did about it.
鈥淲e understand that you students ... face an impossible set of circumstances, with frustration that expands beyond measure,鈥 Heather Perfetti, president of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, an accrediting agency, said at the same session. 鈥淲e all believe that no academic journey should include this kind of severe and abrupt disruption.鈥
Drummer Adam Machado, 18, came to the University of the Arts from New York鈥檚 Hudson Valley so he could study a range of styles, including jazz and contemporary, in a major city. He had a $32,000-a-year scholarship, and it鈥檚 unclear if any other schools will match that. But he also wonders if he鈥檒l find the same curriculum, sense of community and ability to pursue gigs in both New York and Philadelphia, where he performed Wednesday night with a band called 鈥淜ids That Fly.鈥
He grieves for 鈥渘ot only me, but 1,000 other artists (who) are without a home.鈥
Like many classmates who went through the draining college search process just a year ago, he鈥檚 not sure what he鈥檒l do next.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 really know where to start,鈥 said student Cyrus Nasib, 18.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very numbing,鈥 said Nasib, a theater major who had just signed a lease for an apartment near the college campus, since his parents are moving from the Philadelphia suburbs to the West Coast. 鈥淚t kind of just saps your motivation to do anything.鈥
Enrollment at the University of Arts had dropped by nearly half since 2009. Nationwide, the number of college students in the U.S. had already been steadily decreasing for years before the pandemic led to a sharp drop in enrollment. Schools鈥 financial woes have been complicated further by the botched rollout of a new federal financial aid form, which has raised fears that hundreds of thousands of students will .
The University of the Arts has made arrangements with a half-dozen colleges and universities to take in UArts students and help them complete their degrees. Formal agreements with a half-dozen other schools are under review by the school鈥檚 accrediting agency.
But the disruptions created by college closures have a history of derailing students鈥 educations.
春色直播ly, as many as half of students whose campuses close don鈥檛 resume their studies, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, whose data surveys both nonprofit and for-profit schools, including two-year colleges. Other students lose credits or have to spend more to enroll elsewhere.
Democratic state lawmakers held a hearing Monday on the University of the Arts shutdown, while the Philadelphia city council plans its own hearing for later this month.
鈥淚t throws so many red flags up,鈥 said Councilman Mark Squilla. 鈥淗ow can the board not be aware of the financial situation and then say, 鈥榃e just found out last minute we couldn鈥檛 get any money.鈥 Were they already leveraged to the hilt? Did they have a line of credit that they can no longer borrow from? Did the banks shut them off? You know, all these questions, nobody鈥檚 answering.鈥
Film major Ian Callaghan-Kenna, who commuted by bus to the University of the Arts, has been coping with bouts of intense anxiety 鈥 not least because the college already has thousands of dollars of his federal aid for the fall term. He has joined a potential class-action lawsuit against the school.
He said he's most upset by how quickly it happened.
鈥淭he fact that they acted like everything was normal and that we were a thriving institution just a couple weeks ago, and now they鈥檙e just all the sudden $40 million in the tank, having to shut down,鈥 he said, referring to one estimate of the shortfall, 鈥渋t鈥檚 just very, very upsetting.鈥
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Rubinkam reported from northeastern Pennsylvania.
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