Adam Tamburin

USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Aquinas College has announced plans to dramatically shrink its operations, cutting most of its employees and leaving more than half of the student body in need of a quick transfer.

In a statement released Friday morning, the college said that, starting this fall, it would only offer degrees in education. Other programs — including degree tracks for nursing, business and arts and sciences — will be eliminated, as will on-campus housing and student life activities.

As a result, about 60 of the college's 76 employees will lose their jobs and as many as 140 of Aquinas' 257 students will have to find another way to finish their degrees. School officials said the cuts were tied to longstanding challenges with funding and enrollment, but they added that scaling back might be the best way to ensure the college can continue operating for the long-term.

“Obviously this decision has been extremely painful,” Aquinas President Sister Mary Sarah Galbraith said in the statement. “We are deeply aware of the profound impact such a change will have on the faculty, staff and students at Aquinas, people whom we know and love. One of our greatest concerns is for them, and we are committed to do all that we can so that they will experience as little disruption in their lives as possible.”

Employees who lose their jobs will receive a severance package and help finding a new job. Galbraith has also been in touch with more than a dozen colleges in an attempt to lay the groundwork for speedy transfers — some of those colleges are expected to send admissions counselors to Aquinas next week to work with students.

Hours after Aquinas announced its plan to restructure, Cumberland University in Lebanon rolled out a slate of scholarships and supports specially designed for transferring Aquinas students. All Aquinas students will be eligible for a $6,000 transfer award, with thousands of dollars in additional aid possible.

Sister Anne Catherine Burleigh, the spokeswoman for the Dominican congregation, which owns and operates Aquinas, said enrollment and fundraising have lagged behind projections for several years. As a result, the college had repeatedly been forced to dip into its savings to cover operating costs.

Many other colleges with similar challenges have had to close their doors. Focusing on education was a calculated effort to avoid a similar fate.

“We do not want to be among that number," Burleigh said in an interview. "We want to get ahead of that.”

Zeroing in on education made sense, she said, because that is consistent with the roots of the Dominican campus. The first school on the campus was established in 1928 to educate the sisters as teachers.

“That’s our heritage,” Burleigh said. “That’s why we came to Nashville in the first place.”

Under the plan, Aquinas will continue to offer bachelor and master’s degrees in education, with an emphasis on training teachers for Catholic schools. Professors will still teach courses in philosophy and theology.

The change will not impact the other schools on the Dominican campus. Overbrook School and St. Cecilia Academy are independent from Aquinas and have their own budgets, development programs and endowments.

College 'simply didn't grow'

The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia founded Aquinas as a junior college in 1961 and expanded to offer four-year degrees in 1994. The sudden announcement made to students and employees at separate meetings on Friday, represents an unprecedented shake-up for the institution.

It also stands in stark contrast to many recent investments in growing the faculty and campus. Construction just wrapped on a $9 million residence hall — the first new building on campus in about 40 years — and administrators had pledged to expand academic programming as recently as 2015.

Clark Baker, a former member of Aquinas' board and a longtime donor, said an increasingly competitive higher education landscape — including many rapidly growing religious colleges — blunted the impact of those investments. Baker said the college stands to lose millions this year. Campus leadership said the latest estimates suggest around $1.9 million in losses.

"This has been an ongoing decline in our financial stability and it got to the point that it was unsustainable," he said. "It simply didn't grow."

Baker said that although the decision might catch some by surprise, it was the product of several months of behind-the-scenes conversations and prayer. Winnowing down to education allows the college to focus on its most popular program, and Baker said he was optimistic Aquinas would find a niche educating teachers for Catholic schools.

"These steps, as painful as they are, allow us to continue Aquinas College," he said. "In the end I have felt peace with this decision because of my optimism for the future."

Reach Adam Tamburin at atamburin@tennessean.com and 615-726-5986 or on Twitter @tamburintweets.

Colleges step up to take transfers

Leaders at Aquinas College have been working with Nashville-area universities to smooth the path for students who have to transfer after the college eliminates a series of degree tracks this year. Part of that effort has included negotiations around tuition and financial aid.

Hours after Aquinas announced its plan to restructure, Cumberland University in Lebanon rolled out a slate of scholarships and supports specially designed for transferring Aquinas students. All Aquinas students will be eligible for a $6,000 transfer award, with thousands of dollars in additional aid possible.

“The administration of Aquinas has been in touch with us and invited our admissions and financial aid staff to visit their campus next week," Cumberland President Paul Stumb said in a statement. "I hope we see many Aquinas students make the transition to Cumberland. We have much to offer them and we’re ready for them."