Providence Christian College to Close

Providence Christian College will close at the end of the current academic year due to insurmountable financial challenges coupled with low enrollment, officials announced this week.

The private Christian college opened in Pasadena, Calif., in 2005.

Providence Christian College president Steven B. Kortenhoeven wrote in the closure announcement that “heightened accreditation expectations, and the loss of federal funds” also played a role in the closure decision. The Department of Education recognized PCC as a Hispanic-serving institution in 2023, providing it with $3 million, which was to be distributed over five years in $600,000 increments. But last year the Trump administration deemed such programs unconstitutional and stopped awarding related grants to minority-serving institutions.

Kortenhoeven noted that PCC weighed various options before landing on closure.

“Being mindful of stewarding God’s resources well and after exhausting a number of different options to decrease operational expenses, recruit additional students, and even change the campus location, the board felt that this was the only option remaining,” Kortenhoeven wrote.

The president added that half of PCC’s students are on track to graduate before the college closes in May. He also announced teach-out partnerships with California-based Biola University, Concordia University and The Master’s University, which will offer comparable financial aid packages to students.

PCC enrolled 168 students in fall 2024, according to the latest federal data.

Publicly available financial records show that the college had an endowment of just $25,322 and operated at a nearly $1 million loss in fiscal year 2024, which proved too much to overcome.

PCC is now the second institution to announce a closure this year. California College of the Arts announced last month it will close next year and sell its campus to Vanderbilt University.