Northland College in Wisconsin will close at the end of the 2024–25 academic year amid insurmountable financial challenges and declining enrollment, officials announced Wednesday.

The closure comes after a year on the ropes for Northland.

“Despite the collaborative efforts of the entire Northland family, we no longer have the resources needed to navigate the economic and demographic storms endangering small, liberal arts institutions today,” Ted Bristol, chair of the Northland College Board of Trustees, said in a statement announcing the closure decision. “With declining enrollment and soaring costs, it takes more to operate the College than we raise in tuition. Even after enacting aggressive measures to cut costs and raise revenues, Northland College has no sustainable path forward.”

Northland College had an endowment recently valued at $32 million and had operated at a deficit in nine of the last 10 fiscal years, according to publicly available financial documents. 

Enrollment stood at 485 in fall 2023, according to federal data.

Northland acknowledged its struggles publicly last spring when it launched a $12 million fundraising effort in March to stave off closure and subsequently declared financial exigency. The college managed to hang on for almost another year thanks to “transformational gifts” of an unspecified amount, which were followed by job cuts and reducing its academic offerings.

Northland College is the first nonprofit institution to announce a closure this year. At least 16 nonprofit colleges and universities announced closures last year, and several others merged.