BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Staff Writer
Despite decreasing enrollment and revenue, Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont will remain in business by changing the courses it offers and selling some land, the university’s president announced Monday (Jan. 25).
The Catholic university, which currently offers undergraduate courses, will switch to primarily graduate and online education, according to President Dan Carey.
Both the university’s board of trustees and the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur voted that the school continue. Both groups had to vote on the university’s plans for it to move forward.
Notre Dame de Namur University’s future has been in question due to falling enrollment. For the past five years, the university has seen a steady decline in enrollment, from just under 2,000 students in fall 2014 to less than 1,400 students in fall 2019. It had been in doubt whether the university would stay open past this spring.
The school’s budget largely comes from students’ tuition. Since enrollment is falling, the budget is suffering.
The college announced last year it was not accepting new students for summer or fall 2020 and is working to help seniors graduate by spring 2021 and get all others transferred.
According to Carey, the board of trustees has a “high degree of confidence” that arrangements to sell campus lands will get the university money to stay open.
The university also has been tightening its purse strings by narrowing what sorts of curriculum it offers.
Going forward, an undergraduate degree completion program may be offered.
Currently, Notre Dame de Namur partners with Canada College in Redwood City for students to get a bachelor’s in human services, business administration and psychology.
The college announced earlier this year it was not accepting new students for summer or fall 2020 and is working to help seniors graduate by spring 2021 and get all others transferred.
The College of Notre Dame, as it was then called, was chartered in 1868 in San Jose as a women’s university. It moved to Belmont in 1923, became co-educational in 1969 and began adding graduate programs in 1972.