Gannon University and Ursuline College eye a combination

Dive Brief:

• Gannon University and Ursuline College have signed a letter of intent to combine under the Gannon umbrella, the Catholic nonprofit institutions said Monday.
• Under the proposed strategic partnership, Gannon would replace the Ursuline Sisters as the sole member of the Ursuline College Corp., according to an FAQ page devoted to the combination. Gannon would also take ownership of Ursuline’s assets and liabilities.
• Once fully agreed on and completed, the combination of Pennsylvania-based Gannon and Ohio-based Ursuline would create “the largest Catholic university system in the region,” with 6,000 students and 1,300 employees, the institutions said.

Dive Insight:

Gannon and Ursuline, which have been in talks since the spring, framed a partnership as a proactive, mission-aligned step that would meet the needs of each constituency. 

The institutions noted that Gannon’s leaders have been exploring expansion opportunities, while Ursuline officials were looking to partner with a larger institution. Ursuline’s controlling organization, the Ursuline Sisters, wanted a strategic partner to preserve the college’s legacy as the order’s members declined.

The combination would extend Gannon’s reach into northeast Ohio, from its two current campuses in Erie, Pennsylvania, for undergraduate and graduate programs, and in Ruskin, Florida, for graduate health programs. Ursuline is located in Pepper Pike, near Cleveland. 

It would also expand Gannon’s academic offerings, adding Ursuline’s liberal arts focus to Gannon’s suite of engineering, business, health professions, education, humanities and social sciences programs. 

Gannon is by far the larger institution, with 4,665 students in fall 2022 — up 12.4% from five years prior. Ursuline had 950 students in fall 2022, down 15.4% from 2017, according to federal data. 

Gannon is the stronger entity financially as well. For fiscal 2023, it reported $317 million in assets and a total operating surplus of $2.7 million on $108.6 million in revenue. For the same period, Ursuline reported $93.6 million in assets and eked out a surplus of $150,470 on $26.6 million revenue. Ursuline’s liabilities came to $3.3 million for the fiscal year.

The institutions are conducting due diligence and working out details of a final agreement. Once signed, approval from regulators and the institutions’ accreditors — the Middle States Commission on Higher Education for Gannon and Higher Learning Commission for Ursuline — could take 12 to 18 months, they said.