On November 4, 2025, Trinity Christian College, a private liberal arts institution in Palos Heights, Illinois, announced that it will close its doors after the 2025-2026 academic year. The shuttering of small, private colleges is a growing trend as the higher education landscape continues to change due to a myriad of reasons. Dwindling finances and decreased enrollment play a vital role in what's pushing these schools toward closure. Private colleges have been hit the hardest, and the ripple effect is reverberating through the communities and impacting their economies.
Trinity's board chair Ken Dryfhout says, "After a period of intense deliberation and prayerful discernment the board of trustees has voted to close Trinity Christian College at the end of this academic year. The class of 2026 will be our last class to graduate from Trinity, and we will cease academic operations after the 2025-2026 academic year."
Trinity is only the latest school to fall victim to the higher education financial and enrollment shifts. Since 2020, nearly 90 colleges have shut their doors or merged to stay afloat amid declining enrollment and financial strain. Liberal arts colleges have borne the brunt of it, as more than 300 have closed their doors since 2008. Unstable retention, increased debt, low endowment, and decreased enrollment all contribute to the failure to keep these schools afloat.
Enrollment data shows that 5.16 million students attend private institutions, of which 78.4% attend nonprofit schools. With the rise in closures, the educational path of students and the strength of the communities they're in decrease significantly.
Weak endowments — those with less than $15 million — remove a safety net that can help secure financial aid, retain faculty, maintain campus facilities, and fund academic programs.
In 2025, 16 colleges closed, including Limestone University (South Carolina), Northland College (Wisconsin), Paier College (Connecticut), and Eastern Nazarene College (Massachusetts). But the ripple effects fall far beyond the campuses.
The economic impact on these, usually small, communities includes an increased unemployment rate, with faculty and staff finding themselves without the wages that once helped fuel their local economies. It also narrows educational opportunities for local students.
IMPLAN, an economic impact data company, says "as small liberal arts colleges continue to close their doors, the question becomes: what can be done to mitigate the economic damage? For the communities affected, diversification of the local economy and attracting new industries may be key to recovery. However, the legacy of college closures will continue to be felt for years, impacting not only students and staff but also the broader economic ecosystem these institutions helped to sustain."
Even with such a big financial blow, some campuses have been sold and repurposed to continue serving local communities.
Ashley and Shalom Nwaokolo, founders of Egents Innovations, are already looking to transform Trinity into a virtual experience for alumni.
"When an institution closes, the assumption is that its physical presence ends with it; the campus is sold, the buildings are repurposed, and the place simply ceases to exist for the people it shaped," the couple told christianpost.com. "Perduras [the campus's soon-to-be new name] is a direct answer to that assumption. You endure. The place endures. The connection between the community and the place that formed them endures beyond the walls."
Other closed campuses that were repurposed to continue serving their communities include Marygrove College in Detroit, whose 53-acre campus is now home to more than 30 nonprofits through the Marygrove Conservancy, and Marlboro College in Vermont, whose 500-acre campus was sold to a nonprofit affiliated with charter schools.
