Education Policy, Business and Technology

Two Massachusetts colleges say they may merge; small black college will close

Inside Higher Ed: Students and faculty members at two Massachusetts colleges who checked their email early Sunday morning received a shock. The two institutions -- Lasell and Mount Ida Colleges -- are discussing a merger.

Supporters of Concordia College in Alabama, meanwhile, received news that struck many of them as tragic. The college, the only Lutheran historically black college, will shut down. That was the second closure in a week, coming days after a similar announcement from Atlantic Union College, in Massachusetts. Both Concordia Alabama and Atlantic Union are in a category of college -- very small, religiously affiliated institutions -- that many experts say are especially vulnerable these days.

Similarly, Lasell and Mount Ida are both small institutions, with small endowments, in the Northeast, where demographic trends are not favorable to higher education.

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