John F. Kennedy University, a private institution with three campuses in Northern California, has agreed to merge with the National University system, the Contra Costa Times reported today.
JFK, which enrolls about 1,600 students, plans to dissolve its Board of Regents and cede its authority to National, a seven-campus nonprofit system in California and Nevada. JFK, based in Pleasant Hill, Calif., will keep its name.
Leaders of the university said it would have had trouble staying afloat by itself, lacking the money to pay the marketing and technology costs to compete with the success of large for-profit education companies like the University of Phoenix.
“I think, in the next few years, small schools are going to have to look at combining or going out of business,” Diana Paque, JFK’s provost, told the Times. “I think we’re always threatened. If we don’t have this affiliation, it’s a resource issue.” —Josh Keller
