Dive Brief:
- Pittsburgh Technical College is in “is in danger of imminent closure,” according to its accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
- In a Thursday show-cause order, MSCHE gave the private nonprofit college until June 28 to prove compliance with its standards or face a loss of accreditation.
- The notice came just days after the private for-profit Triangle Tech announced it would close all of its six U.S. locations, which are all in Pennsylvania. President Emeritus Timothy McMahon cited lingering effects from the pandemic, industry changes and federal regulations in the 80-year-old Triangle Tech’s shutdown.
Dive Insight:
MSCHE expressed wide-ranging concerns about Pittsburgh Technical that go back months. In its notice last week, the accreditor asked the institution to prove that it can comply with MSCHE’s standards on ethics, governance, and planning and resources. Those concerns pile on to the accreditor’s belief that the college could close in the near term.
Given that risk, had MSCHE asked Pittsburgh Technical to submit a teach-out plan in March to ensure its students would have options to finish their degrees elsewhere should the college close. But on Thursday, MSCHE rejected the college’s plan, saying “the quality and substance of the teach-out plan were insufficient to permit Commission review.”
MSCHE’s show-cause order to Pittsburgh Technical followed a site visit from the accreditor’s staff in May.
The college’s financial woes stem partly from a drop in student headcount. Between 2017 and 2022, fall enrollment fell nearly 40% to 1,066 students. In fiscal 2023, the college faced a $6.7 million shortfall between total operating revenues and expenses. The large majority of its revenue comes from tuition, according to its latest financials.
A spokesperson for the college did not immediately respond to a request for comment about MSCHE’s show-cause notice.
Triangle Tech, another trade college based in Pittsburgh, has grappled with similar challenges. Fall enrollment at Triangle Tech’s Pittsburgh campus fell 27% to 105 students between 2017 and 2022 — roughly a third of the students the campus had in 2010.
Over the past decade and a half, broad-based enrollment declines have created steep challenges for trade colleges focused on shorter degrees. The number of two-year for-profit institutions, like Triangle Tech, has halved since the 2011-12 academic year, falling from 1,048 to 517 in the 2022-23 year, according to federal data.
Triangle Tech has 110 staff members, about 20 of whom will be “immediately impacted,” it said last week. Its 261-person student body will have access to $1,500 tuition scholarships to help them complete their degrees, offered through an educational nonprofit affiliated with the college.
McMahon said the institution was communicating with its accreditor, the Accrediting Commission on Career Schools and Colleges, as well as state and federal officials about its closing plans.
The college didn’t specify when it would close its doors for good but said all remaining students will graduate with associate degrees in their chosen fields through June 2025.
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