Birmingham-Southern College to close in May after nearly 170 years
Birmingham-Southern College, a private liberal arts college in Alabama, will close at the end of May after running into financial difficulties and being unable to secure a financial lifeline from the state, officials announced Tuesday.
Birmingham-Southern College, a private liberal arts college in Alabama, will close at the end of May after running into financial difficulties and being unable to secure a financial lifeline from the state, officials announced Tuesday.
The College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to close the longtime institution, officials said in a news release. The announcement came after legislation aimed at securing a taxpayer-backed loan for the 168-year-old private college recently stalled in the Alabama Statehouse.
“This is a tragic day for the College, our students, our employees, and our alumni,” the Rev. Keith D. Thompson, chairman of the Board of Trustees, said in a statement from the college. “But it is also a terrible day for Birmingham, for the neighborhoods who have surrounded our campus for more than 100 years, and for Alabama.”
Birmingham-Southern College, a private liberal arts college in Alabama.WVTMA number of small private colleges nationwide are struggling with a declining number of traditional college-aged students and competition from larger, richer institutions.
The college of about 1,000 students is located on the west side of Birmingham, one of Alabama’s principal cities.
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