Dive Transient:
- Seattle College intends to purchase the Cornish School of the Arts, the 2 establishments introduced Thursday.
- Underneath the plan, the non-public nonprofit arts establishment would turn into “Cornish School of the Arts at Seattle College” and stay at its campus in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood.
- The universities signed a letter of intent however are nonetheless working towards a closing deal, which might require regulatory and accreditor approval. They anticipate for the acquisition to start by Could 2025 and be absolutely accomplished round Could 2026.
Dive Perception:
Seattle College, a non-public Catholic establishment, and Cornish framed their deliberate mixture as an growth of alternatives for college students at each establishments. These alternatives, they mentioned, would come with “modern interdisciplinary studying throughout fields reminiscent of laptop science, enterprise and the high quality arts.”
Cornish is lower than a tenth of the scale of its potential associate. In 2022, the humanities school had a fall headcount of simply 443 college students, down practically a 3rd from 5 years prior. Seattle College had 7,121 college students in fall 2022, a reasonable decline — 2.2% — from 2017.
For the 2023 fiscal yr, Cornish reported a complete working deficit of $2.7 million whereas its money property fell by greater than half to $2.4 million. Seattle College additionally booked a deficit that fiscal yr, of $3.9 million, although it has a a lot bigger income and asset base.
As of Could 2023, Cornish had about $54.1 million in property on its stability sheet and long-term debt of $12.3 million.
Cornish’s historical past extends again some 110 years, when it was based by pianist and trainer Nellie Cornish. Right now its choices run the inventive gamut, with packages in visible artwork, dance, design, music, media and movie, theater and different areas.
Seattle College lacks a devoted high quality arts faculty, although it gives a restricted variety of high quality arts levels in addition to different levels in arts subjects.
Nevertheless, the college has plans to increase its attain into the humanities. Months earlier than the letter of intent with Cornish, Seattle College introduced a donation of an artwork assortment valued at $300 million — the most important such present to a U.S. college, the establishment mentioned — to construct an artwork museum on campus.
“Increasing alternatives for arts training at Seattle College displays the long-standing Jesuit dedication to integrating the visible and performing arts into the tutorial expertise,” the establishment mentioned in Thursday’s launch.
The acquisition additionally comes throughout a troublesome time for personal arts schools. The sudden collapse of College of the Arts in Philadelphia was notably dramatic. The Delaware School of Artwork and Design additionally folded this yr. Moreover, California School of the Arts reportedly has been wrestling with a large deficit and sharp enrollment decline, and has mulled a possible merger.
As they work on a definitive deal, Seattle College plans to run a “thorough due diligence assessment of Cornish’s funds, holdings and property, operations, compliance and authorized obligations.”
The universities anticipate Seattle College to take management by the tip of Could 2025. For a transition interval of a few yr after that, Cornish would possible maintain its personal degree-granting authority and retain its present accreditation. Throughout that point, the 2 establishments would start merging their administrative help operations, they mentioned.