It is unclear how many of the 160 employees on the Belleville campus will lose their jobs. Staff members can apply for open positions at the St. Charles campus, and some will remain in Belleville for the evening operations, Duggan said.

The Belleville campus opened as a night school in 2003 on the site of the former Belleville Township High School. The traditional daytime undergraduate program started in 2009.

The school has experienced annual operating deficits of $2.5 million to $3 million on top of an estimated $16.4 million in needed maintenance costs plus $10 million in improvements to attract more undergraduates, Duggan said.

The news of the closure comes after the leaders of both campuses were fired in the last year. Michael Shonrock was terminated as president of Lindenwood in February. Brett Barger, then-president of the Belleville campus, was placed on administrative leave in November 2018 and is no longer with the university.

About 11 colleges have been closing annually nationwide, with the number expected to soon grow to 20 a year, according to Moody’s Investors Service. Small private colleges are particularly at risk because of their reliance on tuition rather than endowments, according to investors.

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