Dive Brief:
- King’s College, a Christian liberal arts college in New York City, has only raised about $500,000 of the $2.6 million it says it needs to stave off closure.
- The institution, known as a conservative hub, has been publicly pleading with alumni and donors the last few months for funds to help it survive past this academic year.
- King’s College officials have attributed the institution’s financial distress to its sluggish post-pandemic recovery, as well as generally poor economic conditions and rising interest rates. A King’s College spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Monday on the most up-to-date fundraising goals.
Dive Insight:
King’s College has shed many of its students in recent years. It enrolled more than 600 prior to the pandemic, but fell to 384 undergraduate students in fall 2021, according to the most recently available federal data.
The enrollment decline seemed to clinch its closure. But the college found financial salvation, at least temporarily, after billionaire Peter Chung provided a $2 million, interest-free loan to get it through the spring 2023 semester.
Chung is chief executive of the Canadian-based Primacorp Ventures Inc., which King’s College hired to start an array of online programming. Critics say the partnership with Primacorp contributed to the college’s decline and that the online programs were too ambitious to launch successfully.
The $2 million loan for the college has been described as bridge funding. The college has not listed a deadline for its fundraiser.
