California’s Providence Christian College to shut down

A Reformed college in California is shutting down after 20 years. Providence Christian College in Pasadena, Calif., will shut down at the end of the 2025-2026 academic year, the school said Monday. Its board of trustees voted to close the school two days earlier, the college’s president, Steven Kortenhoeven, said in a statement.

The school aimed to provide the West Coast with a four-year liberal arts program based on a Reformed, Biblical perspective. It welcomed its first class of 22 students in 2005, and had around 150 students in 2023.

What led to the closure? Kortenhoeven said several factors led to the decision:

• Declining student enrollment

• A rising cost of operations in Southern California

• Heightened accreditation expectations

• The loss of federal funds

• Shifts in donor giving and financial circumstances

Kortenhoeven added that Providence exhausted various options to overcome the enrollment challenges, but they were insufficient, he said. The Board of Trustees determined there was no path toward long-term sustainability.

What will happen to Providence’s current students? Kortenhoeven said half of the college’s full-time students are scheduled to graduate in May. For the remaining students, Providence set up both teach-out agreements and transfer partner institutions at several Christian colleges and sister schools. The teach-out institutions, which include Biola University, Concordia University, and The Master’s University, partnered with Providence to allow students to graduate on a similar timeline and cost.

Dig deeper: Read Elizabeth Black’s report on the case of a fired Calvin University teacher.