Dive Brief:
- Webster University will close its nine remaining campuses on U.S. military bases, the private nonprofit confirmed Thursday.
- Five locations are slated to shutter next month, with the rest winding down by the end of May. The offices have “minimal” staffing, and about a dozen employees will be affected by the closures, according to a spokesperson for the Missouri-based university.
- The locations together enrolled around 250 students. The spokesperson said most were taking classes online, “so the impact to students will be minimal.”
Dive Insight:
A decade ago, Webster had physical offerings at 43 military bases. But as more military education moves online, the university is winding down its physical presence.
“We have seen 90% of our military in person enrollments shift to online offerings,” Webster Chancellor Timothy Keane said in an emailed statement Thursday. “With the closure of our last 9 locations we will be providing all of our military students/learners with their option of choice."
On a website for prospective students, the university touts its 40 years in military education and 120 programs that "meet the academic and career goals of the entire military-adjacent family.”
As of Oct. 31, Webster continued to highlight its physical offerings, which combined with its online coursework makes the university “uniquely positioned to serve the educational needs of active-duty military.”
The university offers credits for military service, a portal for class materials that is accessible during deployments, and discounted tuition and scholarships.
The university's budget is in the red, with a total operating deficit of $38.9 million in the fiscal year ending May 2023, up from a $24.9 million shortfall the year before, according to its latest financials. The increasing shortfall follows a more than $10 million drop in revenue from pandemic-era federal grants and a $8 million-plus spike in operating expenses.
At 6,396 students, fall enrollment at the university’s main campus in suburban St. Louis has nearly halved since 2017, per federal data. The university also has locations in South Carolina and Texas, along with international campuses.
Keane told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which first reported the closing military campuses, “We’re looking at every program, we’re scrutinizing every cost we incur.”
Webster’s military locations set to close include:
- Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas.
- Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.
- Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
- Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.
- Fort Liberty in North Carolina.
- Fort Sill in Oklahoma.
- Fort Jackson in South Carolina.
- Randolph Air Force Base in Texas.
- Fort Belvoir in Virginia.
The spokesperson said 54 faculty members teach students at those locations, but only a few would be impacted, given that they also teach online courses for the university.
