Under pressure from its accreditor, the University of Valley Forge is offering students and families information on how to transfer to other colleges.
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The move comes as the Phoenixville-based college – which enrolls 589 students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics – faces the possible loss of its accreditation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Colleges need accreditation to keep their students eligible for financial aid.
Middle States last month issued its most serious warning – “show cause” – to the small Christian college that prepares students for leadership in the church and the world. It cited concerns about finances, planning and governance.
The university is among the latest institutions in the region to face the threat of closure amid a declining pool of high school students and increased competition. The University of the Arts and Cabrini University closed in 2024. Rosemont College’s campus has been purchased by Villanova University, and the college plans to conclude its operations in 2028. Peirce College has been merged into Lackawanna College, a process that has been approved by the U.S. Department of Education and sanctioned by Middle States this month.
University of the Sciences and Philadelphia University were phased out in previous mergers with St. Joseph’s University and Thomas Jefferson University. Pennsylvania State University plans to close seven of its Commonwealth campuses next year.
On its website, University of Valley Forge says it is not closing, but that it has established several colleges as “teach-out partners” that would streamline admission of University of Valley Forge students in the event of a closure. The school was required under the Middle States process to develop “teach out plans” that would provide students with options to complete their education if the school were to close.
“Although this process does not require the university to provide students with teach-out options at this time, we understand that students may wish to consider alternative pathways for completing their academic programs during this period of uncertainty,” the school wrote in an email to students.
The school, according to its website, plans to charge $41,020 in tuition, fees and room and board for next academic school year, which is scheduled to start Aug. 30.
The school last Saturday held an event on campus with representatives from the partner institutions – Eastern University in St. Davids, Messiah University in Mechanicsburg and Southeastern University in Florida – so that students could get information. All three schools are private, Christian universities.
But University of Valley Forge on its its website, which was updated as recently as Tuesday, said it is “actively pursuing strategies to strengthen enrollment, finances, partnerships, and operations.”
“While no institution can guarantee future outcomes,” the school said, “leadership remains committed to preserving and advancing the university’s mission.”
The challenges appear to be substantial.
Earlier this month, the school said it planned to soon communicate decisions about staff furloughs and that it would have to delay payroll for up to one week, according to emails obtained by The Inquirer from a source close to the college who requested anonymity because the source is not authorized to discuss the matter.
“I am deeply sorry for the disruption and for the hardship this may cause,” President David Kim wrote, according to the email.
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Kim, board members and several other administrators and faculty have not responded to a request for comment. The emails did not indicate if furloughs occurred, how many or for what period.
The school employed 419 in calendar year 2021, according to the school’s most recently filed 990. With expenses of $20.2 million, the school operated with a $1.9 million loss that year, the tax document shows.
The Rev. Don Immel, a member of the University of Valley Forge board, addressed the Middle States action in responding to a July 11 Facebook post asking why the college was requesting “urgent prayer.” The university held a day of prayer and fasting on July 8, following the Middle States’ action.
“The need is financial,” Immel wrote. “We have a donor who has the capacity and has expressed the willingness to step in. Please pray that the donations is released.”
In other public Facebook posts, parents of students, alumni and others have expressed concern.
“I have a daughter enrolled at UVF right now, and is supposed to be starting her sophomore year come this fall,” one parent wrote. “I don’t know at this point what to do concerning her returning to campus in the fall, or do we need to look at transferring now.”
An alumnus also had questions.
“Should we be doing anything to secure duplicate degrees or official transcripts (in the event that we lost ours or anticipate needing copies in the future)?” the alum wrote.
The school has until Sept. 1 to “show cause” to justify why it should not lose accreditation, according to Middle States. The commission will review the university’s submission, the school said on its website, and take its next action – which could include up to revocation of accreditation – in November.
In issuing the show cause decision, the commission cited “insufficient evidence that the institution is in compliance” with standards involving planning, resources, and institutional improvement, and governance, leadership, and administration.
The university must document in its show-cause report “financial resources, funding base, and plans for financial development to support its educational purposes and programs and to ensure financial stability,” the commission said. The school also must provide information on long-range financial planning that includes “realistic enrollment projections and the assumptions on which they are based,” the commission said.
The university started in 1939 as the Eastern Bible Institute, which was aimed at training pastors, evangelists, missionaries and Christian educators, and lay workers, according to the school’s website. It became a college in 1975 and the University of Valley Forge in 2014. The university is part of an international network of Assemblies of God colleges and universities and offers more than 60 degree programs, according to its website.
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