JFK University closing operations at end of year
John F. Kennedy University, in Pleasant Hill, will close at the end of 2020 after serving the East Bay community since 1965, university officials announced Thursday.
The university board of trustees determined “that the best path forward” for the institution amid declining enrollment would be to transfer almost all of its programs to other institutions within the National University System and close university operations by Dec. 31, according to a joint statement by acting university President Thomas Stewart and National University System Chancellor Michael R. Cunningham.
“In recent years, we have focused on our core strengths ... while exploring ways to reach more students who need greater flexibility to achieve their educational goals,” they said in a statement to students. “While we have made significant changes to be relevant, viable, and costeffective, the university’s position as a tuitiondependent institution with declining enrollment has increasingly become a precarious one.”
In a letter addressed to the East Bay community, Stewart and university board chair Michael McGill said the university has struggled to adapt to the changing “higher education landscape” of the United States. They said students have begun to seek affordable online educational opportunities that are flexible enough to accommodate their personal schedules.
“We all are being challenged to adapt to meet those needs,” they said in a statement.
Officials said “the majority of all current” university degree and certificate programs will be continued and adopted by other National University System affiliated institutions, such as National University and Northcentral University. The university joined the National University System — a nonprofit system established in 2001 that is composed of university and educationrelated institutions — in 2009.
The university’s graduate psychology programs will be integrated at National University. The university’s College of Law — including the doctorate, bachelor’s and paralegal programs — will move to Northcentral University and maintain its name as the “JFK School of Law at NCU,” university officials said.
Students who don’t want to continue their studies within the National University System can complete their degrees at another postsecondary institution, university officials said. Staff will work with those students and those other institutions “to provide a smooth transfer.”
University officials said student tuition will not be increased during the transition, and tuition discounts will be offered to “most students” who remain within the National University System. They said their “first step” is to schedule Zoom meetings with students and their respective deans and program faculty to discuss the next steps in their educational careers.
Students scheduled to graduate before Dec. 31 will still receive a degree from JFK University, officials said.