Dive Temporary:
- Gannon College and Ursuline School have signed a letter of intent to mix beneath the Gannon umbrella, the Catholic nonprofit establishments mentioned Monday.
- Below the proposed strategic partnership, Gannon would exchange the Ursuline Sisters as the only member of the Ursuline School Corp., in response to an FAQ web page dedicated to the mixture. Gannon would additionally take possession of Ursuline’s property and liabilities.
- As soon as totally agreed on and accomplished, the mixture of Pennsylvania-based Gannon and Ohio-based Ursuline would create “the biggest Catholic college system within the area,” with 6,000 college students and 1,300 staff, the establishments mentioned.
Dive Perception:
Gannon and Ursuline, which have been in talks for the reason that spring, framed a partnership as a proactive, mission-aligned step that may meet the wants of every constituency.
The establishments famous that Gannon’s leaders have been exploring enlargement alternatives, whereas Ursuline officers had been seeking to associate with a bigger establishment. Ursuline’s controlling group, the Ursuline Sisters, wished a strategic associate to protect the faculty’s legacy because the order’s members declined.
The mix would lengthen Gannon’s attain into northeast Ohio, from its two present campuses in Erie, Pennsylvania, for undergraduate and graduate applications, and in Ruskin, Florida, for graduate well being applications. Ursuline is positioned in Pepper Pike, close to Cleveland.
It could additionally increase Gannon’s tutorial choices, including Ursuline’s liberal arts focus to Gannon’s suite of engineering, enterprise, well being professions, schooling, humanities and social sciences applications.
Gannon is by far the bigger establishment, with 4,665 college students in fall 2022 — up 12.4% from 5 years prior. Ursuline had 950 college students in fall 2022, down 15.4% from 2017, in response to federal knowledge.
Gannon is the stronger entity financially as properly. For fiscal 2023, it reported $317 million in property and a complete working surplus of $2.7 million on $108.6 million in income. For a similar interval, Ursuline reported $93.6 million in property and eked out a surplus of $150,470 on $26.6 million income. Ursuline’s liabilities got here to $3.3 million for the fiscal 12 months.
The establishments are conducting due diligence and figuring out particulars of a last settlement. As soon as signed, approval from regulators and the establishments’ accreditors — the Center States Fee on Increased Schooling for Gannon and Increased Studying Fee for Ursuline — may take 12 to 18 months, they mentioned.
