MSCHE yanks Alliance University’s accreditation

Higher Ed Dive

Natalie Schwartz

June 27, 2023

Dive Brief: 

• The Middle States Commission on Higher Education said Monday it is yanking accreditation from Alliance University, a financially struggling Christian college in New York.

• Accreditation will terminate at the end of December, according to MSCHE’s announcement. The decision comes a few months after MSCHE flagged multiple compliance concerns with the private nonprofit institution and asked for information to assess its financial viability.

• Alliance President Rajan Mathews said via email Tuesday that the college plans to appeal the decision. It can remain accredited while it appeals the decision, so long as it meets certain conditions, including not enrolling or marketing to new students, according to MSCHE’s policies.

Dive Insight: 

Alliance, known as Nyack College until last fall, has operated in the red for about a decade, with annual deficits reaching as high as $12 million, according to tax documents. Those issues boiled over in 2022, when auditors again said they had “substantial doubt” that the university could stay in business.

In recent years, Alliance has operated under a significant debt burden, surpassing $90 million in fiscal 2020.

In late 2020, Alliance sold its campus in Nyack for $45.5 million and used the $28 million in gains from the transaction to pay down some of its debt, its latest audit shows. It also moved all academic programs to Manhattan, The Christian Post reported. 

In fiscal 2022, the college had $59.6 million in liabilities, most of which stemmed from its $51.6 million mortgage on its New York City campus. Despite the recent campus sale, its liabilities still exceeded its net assets, which totaled $54.9 million in fiscal 2022.

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