After 92 years in Detroit, Marygrove College will permanently close in December at the end of the Fall 2019 semester due to a continuing decline in student enrollment and financial struggles.
According to a release, in August 2017, the college's Corporate Board made the official decision to close its undergraduate programs, but decided at the time to keep the graduate degree and professional development programs, until now.
Marygrove President Dr. Elizabeth Burns said, “Marygrove’s grand experiment to transition to graduate-only studies was a brave and bold attempt to continue to serve students. However, intensive marketing and recruitment efforts have failed to attract enough students. Coupled with a heavy debt burden, the low enrollment numbers provide insufficient revenue to continue operations into the future.”
“Our 305 current students have been informed of the college’s impending closure,” Burns said. “In compliance with Higher Learning Commission requirements, Marygrove has entered into a teach-out agreement with Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, and will enter into agreements with other institutions as needed to ensure that Marygrove students who are within one year of degree completion can do so through one of our teach-out partner schools. The agreements are pending approval by the HLC. All students will receive financial aid counseling and academic advising.”
Burns said that faculty and staff were also notified today of the closure decision. “Efforts are also underway to assist our dedicated faculty and staff with employment counseling as they make this life and professional transition,” she said.
“Marygrove College has been filling a unique and vital niche in higher education in Detroit since we opened the doors in 1927,” Burns said. “When we made the decision to forge on with graduate programs, we were confident and hopeful. Those of us who love Marygrove will be helped in coming to grips with this decision knowing that the Sisters’ mission of education will continue on in this special place. This is indeed an incredibly sad and heartbreaking day for everyone: Marygrove, higher education, our alumni, students, faculty, staff, our neighbors and the city of Detroit. But the spirit of those who came before will imbue the Marygrove values in those who come after.”
