You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
Struggling to pay rent and make payroll, Union Institute & University is pushing back the start of its fall semester for the second time, according to an announcement officials sent Friday.
The announcement, which went to employees and students, noted that the start of the fall semester—originally scheduled for Aug. 28—was being pushed back until November. The move comes two weeks after the nonprofit online university delayed the start of the fall semester until today. University officials noted in an email that the move was related to financial issues.
“We want to assure you that currently there are no plans to close Union Institute & University. However, we have not yet obtained the necessary funding to begin the fall term as planned. In light of this situation, we have made the difficult decision to cancel Fall 1 term. Fall 2 term will begin on November 6, as scheduled,” Tom Frederick, Union Institute’s interim vice president of academic affairs, wrote in the Friday email announcing the delayed start to the fall semester.
The decision came in the same week that Union Institute held a virtual town hall meeting in which President Karen Schuster Webb told employees that she had been advised by three different people who worked in finance at the university to shut Union down, according to details from the meeting shared anonymously with Inside Higher Ed.
Union has faced significant financial pressures recently and has frequently paid employees late. The university was also locked out of its Cincinnati headquarters last month and is currently facing eviction from its center in Florida. The financial troubles have been going on at least since January, when Union took out a $375,000 cash advance with the promise to pay back $574,500 in future revenues, according to The Cincinnati Business Courier. The business journal reported that Union Institute took out another cash advance of $250,000 in February with the promise to pay back $365,000 and has since struggled to make weekly payments on both of those loans.
The Department of Education placed Union Institute on heightened cash monitoring last month. On HCM 2 status, Union is subject to additional oversight on management of federal student aid.
Union officials did not respond to a request for comment.
