After a 165-year history, northeast Ohio’s Chancellor University is closing its doors.
The announcement was made Monday and posted on the school’s website, but no reason for the closure is known.
The shuttering comes in the wake of a slew of financial and accreditation problems for the school attended by business moguls John D. Rockefeller and Harvey Firestone. The school owes $162,000 to Cleveland-Cuyahoga Country Port Authority, according to a report on cleveland.com written by a reporter for Ohio Newspaper The Plain Dealer. Chancellor, formerly known as David N. Myers University, closed from 2007 to 2008 in the midst of bankruptcy and was then converted to an online and for-profit institution with the help of businessman Michael Clifford.
The school also had plans to terminate its association with the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association, effectively ending its accreditation. The commission last year expressed worry about several aspects of the school, such as its finances and student enrollment, according to the cleveland.com report.
Chancellor’s students will transfer to Alliant International University, a private not-for-profit school based out of California, according to the announcement. As of May, the cleveland.com report said, the school had 31 full-time and 162 part-time undergraduate students and 50 full-time and part-time graduate students.
Students will make the transition following the end of Chancellor’s summer session on August 25, the announcement said.
“Everyone at Chancellor is committed to making sure our students make a smooth transition to Alliant,” Chancellor President Bob Daugherty said in the posting on the school’s site. “We are working to ensure each student’s individual needs are met and that all credits transfer in a seamless transition.”
Alliant International University President Geoff Cox expressed in the announcement his eagerness to welcome the Chancellor students to his institution.
“We’re excited to provide a new opportunity for Chancellor University students,” Cox said. “Our university’s high quality programs are certain to allow Chancellor students to continue to flourish in their chosen fields in a new and multi-faceted way.”