Jewish nonprofits, of course, are not the only institutions being subsumed by this economic avalanche. Cascade College, a small Christian school in Portland, Ore., that two of my friends attended, is shutting down after its spring semester ends. The money to keep going just isn’t there. And Cascade may not be the last casualty in Christian academia:
Every year, a handful of institutions go under. And while a wave of college closings is unlikely, the economic turmoil could accelerate the pace.
In addition to Cascade, another Christian institution, Taylor University, announced last month that it would close the undergraduate program at a branch campus in Fort Wayne, Ind., while Pillsbury Baptist Bible College in Owatonna, Minn., said it would close.
And on Wednesday, Vennard College, a Christian school in Iowa that was down to about 80 students, said it would close at the end of the current semester – two years shy of its 100th birthday. More closing announcements could come next semester, or next fall, when schools find out how many of their students don’t return.
Decreased enrollment has been reported at private schools, religious and secular, across the country. Even Los Angeles’ premiere prep schools are feeling the pinch.
