Dive Brief:

  • Lindenwood University, a nonprofit in Missouri, Thursday finalized its acquisition of Dorsey College or university, an 89-calendar year-old for-gain technological institution dependent in Michigan. ​Neither establishment has publicly shared the acquire value.
  • Lindenwood’s buy permits it to increase into the career instruction sector and build a greater instruction program that can support a more various established of students, according to an FAQ on the university’s website. The acquisition will also diversify Lindenwood’s profits streams, the private college mentioned.
  • The institutions will continue to run separately, maintaining their respective names and staff members. Dorsey’s chief, John Barnes, will keep on as president and CEO and will report to John Porter, president of the Lindenwood Education Procedure. Porter will also continue on to provide as Lindenwood’s president.

Dive Insight:

Lindenwood’s board of trustees permitted a structural modify to the Lindenwood College nonprofit company in late 2022 to allow for the acquisition of institutions that couldn’t conveniently be integrated in a solitary establishment. The company changed its name to the Lindenwood Instruction System earlier this 12 months.

“This is our 1st stage in the strategy to build a network of colleges that can present daily life-long schooling leading to career development,” Porter reported in a campus email saying the completed obtain.

It’s envisioned Dorsey will go after recognition by the U.S. Office of Education as a non-income increased ed institution in just the coming months, according to Lindenwood.

Lindenwood turned fascinated in getting a complex college when it listened to from neighborhood college superintendents that they were sending nearly 50 percent of their pupils to career and vocational coaching soon after graduation, in accordance to the FAQ.

Dorsey was interesting to the college simply because it has developed through a time when a lot of of its Midwest rivals both remaining the spot or closed. In 2021, Dorsey Schools grew to become Dorsey School when it started featuring affiliate degree systems. The establishments are at the moment checking out enrollment pathways for Dorsey graduates who may possibly be interested in a Lindenwood application.

Dorsey also has a observe record of stability, powerful branding and pupil achievements, according to Lindenwood.

Individuals elements appear to cling in opposition to many notable for-financial gain institutions that have faced accusations of lousy university student results and deceptive revenue pitches.

A related deal, if bigger in scale — the College of Arkansas system’s probable acquisition of the University of Phoenix — has been met with pushback from Arkansas faculty around fears the for-profit would diminish its manufacturer. In 2019, the College of Phoenix agreed to pay back $191 million, most of it in canceled student credit card debt, to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations its advertisements misrepresented its associations with main businesses.