Philadelphia’s 160-year-old Peirce College intends to merge with Lackawanna College in Scranton

Another Philadelphia college is planning to enter a merger: The nearly 160-year-old Peirce, an open-access institution focused on serving adult students, intends to become part of Lackawanna College in Scranton, leaders of both schools said Wednesday.

The merger plan, already voted upon by both boards of trustees, is subject to regulatory approvals that are expected to take about a year. Once complete, the schools’ leaders — who intend to inform their faculty, staffs, and students of the decision Wednesday — said the newly merged entity will further cement Lackawanna’s distinction of being the largest, private, open-enrollment institution for undergraduate students in Pennsylvania. Open-enrollment means anyone with a high school diploma or GED may attend.

Peirce — which has had significant operating losses and enrollment declines in recent years — will become a school within the Lackawanna enterprise, likely known as the Peirce School of Lackawanna College in the Greater Philadelphia Region or some variation of that.

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Both college presidents said the decision is not driven by desperation but rather a desire to be proactive in an increasingly competitive higher-education landscape where mergers and closures are becoming more common locally and nationally.

“We thought what better way to help protect us in this environment of turbulence and serve the students that we serve,” said Mary Ellen Caro, who has been president of Peirce since 2018. “We are not being forced to do this. We are proactively doing it and doing it thoughtfully and not with an eye on having to close down programs. We’re talking about bringing more in and becoming stronger and better.”

Jill Murray, Lackawanna’s president, said her college, with its base in Scranton and six other sites in northeastern and central Pennsylvania, had been looking to expand to the Philadelphia market.

“This makes a lot of sense for both of us,” said Murray, who has led the college since 2020. “Both of us were really focused on what it means to be sustainable in higher education today … It was a merger, really, out of innovation.”

Both Caro and Murray said it was too early to say whether any of Peirce’s 80 employees would lose their jobs.

“We certainly want to keep as much of the considerable talent as possible from Peirce,” Murray said. “We are going to keep all of the current programming in place at Peirce, too. And hopefully we’re going to add some of the flavors of our curriculum as well.”

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That, she said, includes energy programs, petroleum and natural gas, health care and dual-enrollment options in partnership with local high schools. Lackawanna has more than 2,000 high school students in dual enrollment at its current sites. The college also has signature programs in business, criminal justice, cybersecurity, robotics, and nursing, she said.

The move comes amid a flurry of merger and closure activity locally. In June, University of the Arts in Philadelphia abruptly closed, as did Cabrini University in Radnor, which had announced its intent last year. Drexel and Salus earlier this summer got approval for their merger, while St. Joseph’s University finalized a merger with Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences in Lancaster in January. That came just a year-and-a-half after St. Joe’s merged with the University of the Sciences.

And just two years ago, six universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education merged into two new entities.

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Peirce, which offers associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees, currently serves just under 1,400 students, down from nearly 2,200 six years ago, with much of the loss coming during and after the pandemic. But Caro said the college is seeing growth in new students. Nearly all students take their classes fully online, while the college’s building in the 1600 block of Walnut Street is largely used for information sessions, seminars, and meetings.

The college hasn’t raised tuition in eight years to help its students, most of whom do not take a full-credit load because they are working, Caro said, noting that the average age of a Peirce student is mid-30s. The college charges undergraduates $600 per credit, and graduate students just over $700, she said.

Peirce’s net tuition revenue has tumbled from $18.4 million in 2015 to $8.8 million in 2023, financial records show. On a $13 million budget, Peirce also has sustained operating losses in the last two years; in 2023 that loss exceeded $4 million.

Caro emphasized that Peirce remains financially stable, with unrestricted cash reserves of about $20 million, a $3.8 million endowment, and no debt.

By comparison, the 130-year-old Lackawanna, which serves more than 2,000 undergraduates and an additional 6,000 in certificate programs, its two police academies and other programs, has seen its net tuition revenue grow from $16.7 million in 2015 to $25.2 million last year.

And the college, which offers eight bachelor’s degrees and 25 associate’s degrees, generated operating income of more than $4 million in 2023. The college has more than 200 full-time and permanent part-time employees and operates on a $34 million budget, with a $15 million endowment, Murray said. It’s tuition and fees run under $18,000 annually.

Caro said she intends to remain at the college through the merger, which is expected to be fully completed by July 2026, then move on. Murray will become president of the newly merged institution.

Murray said Lackawanna wants to learn more about Peirce’s expertise in the adult market.

“We want to replicate that,” she said.