The 140-year old Lutheran college in Westchester County faced ongoing financial challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just a year after the College of New Rochelle folded amid massive financial scandal, another Westchester institute of higher learning is closing its doors.
Concordia College, the 33-acre Christian campus founded in Bronxville in 1881, announced on January 28 that it would cease classes beginning with the fall 2021 semester. The school cites “a changing and broadly challenged higher education sector” along with ongoing financial troubles and the global COVID-19 pandemic as the reasoning behind the decision.
Concordia has struck a deal — though full details have yet to be released, pending regulatory approval — with another local Christian school, New Rochelle’s Iona College, to provide transfers and continued education to the former’s approximately 1,500 students.
“While we had hoped to preserve the College in its current form, and worked hard on a number of solutions, we know that this move gives our students the best opportunity for a seamless continuation of their education at a worthy institution,” says Concordia College Board of Regents Chairman Joe Carlin.
College President John A. Nunes agrees. “Students were and continue to be our priority throughout the prayerful and painstaking decision-making process. By acting now, Concordia’s Regents have provided our students with an excellent option for continuing the quality, faith-informed education they began here.”
Iona College will also be acquiring Concordia’s campus, and plans to develop the Bronxville location to help grow the school’s burgeoning health sciences tracts. A series of virtual town hall meetings will be held to help address parent and student questions and concerns.
“The closure of a sister institution affects us all,” says Iona’s President Seamus Carey, Ph.D. “Education must, and will, be different going forward,” he notes, adding, “While we pursue regulatory approvals, Iona and Concordia will work together to ensure their students can complete their education with minimal disruption.”
