Located in Rensselaer, Indiana, St. Joseph’s College has taught students for 125 years, but in the wake of recent financial mishaps, as of February 8, the Catholic college announced that it would officially close at the end of the semester. This closure affects a few Bishop Noll graduates, as well as some seniors who were planning on attending St. Joe’s in the fall.

  St. Joe’s is a private, liberal arts school that offers 26 majors and 32 minors, as well as division two sports such as basketball, cross country, golf, track and tennis, for women and men, and prides itself on its Catholic heritage. The school has a close community that was left in shock by the school saying that it was in fact closing its doors. The first sign of financial trouble came out when it was announced there was only a possibility of the school closing. However, once the school made a formal statement that it would be closing at the end of the semester, students were left in shock and scrambled to make arrangements for their future education.

  The school officially decided that closing was the only option after it fell into a $27 million debt, accumulated deficits of $4 million to $5 million a year, along with the threat of loss of accreditation and trustee claims.

 Many students at St. Joe’s, including several Noll graduates, were suddenly upheaved from their course of action for their college years and forced to seek out and apply to other colleges, where they’d have to make new friends and get acclimated to a new environment. For 2013 Bishop Noll alum Jose Arteaga, who is also the senior student body president at St. Joe’s, the closure–if even temporary–of the school leads to a lot of unhappy questions about the situation.

 “In my opinion the Board of Trustees should have reached out to the alums to ask them for help. We have a lot of wealthy alums and they could have helped if they knew in time,” Arteaga said..

  Many alumni claimed that they had no idea how dire the situation was for the beloved college, while some faculty claimed they suspected what was coming. The students, however, seem to be somewhat kept in the dark regarding the financial situation of the school.

  “Since the news came out school officials have been very quiet, not much communication,” Arteaga said.  

  Bishop Noll senior Mary Lowry was planning to attend St. Joe’s this fall, but her plan was disrupted by the last minute announcement of the school’s closure.

  “I originally thought SJC would be my dream school, so I didn’t apply to anywhere else but University of Chicago, and that wasn’t a serious application; that was more of a ‘Let’s just see if I would get accepted!’ kind of a thing. So when they announced that they were closing, I got sent into a scramble of trying to apply to a bunch of new colleges and finding to find someplace to call home for the next four years.”

When the trouble began with St. Joe’s, Lowry was worried, as she was a candidate for a full ride to the college of her dreams. The news that the school was closing surprised her. “Five days before they announced that they were in serious financial straits, I was at the college being interviewed for a full ride there. They sent out an email in November reassuring everyone that they were still an accredited school, telling us not to worry about the future of St. Joseph’s College. So when they announced that they were closing, it came as a major shock,” she said. Lowry is now planning to attend Ball State University next fall to major in Secondary English Education or English Literature.

Arteaga, whose brother Miguel is in the search for another school to attend next year,  had a similar reaction. “I was very angry and upset. At Saint Joe, I was Student Body President for two years and I loved the job and had a deep passion for Saint Joe like I had a deep love for Bishop Noll. The news was a surprise to all,” he said.

  Despite this, Arteaga is determined to continue to make the process as painless as possible for fellow students.

  “My main job is to help out students with the process. If they needed help I held out my hand. When they need to talk I give them my ears and when they need to cry I give them a shoulder to cry on.”

  In light of the school closing, the administration has promised that they will assist students with the transfer process.

  “The school has been very helpful for the transfer process. The admissions office has turned to a transition office. The admission staff has been helping with school visits and also help students get into other schools,” said Arteaga. “My advice to underclassmen has been to be calm and cool. This is a bump in the road but, we will get through this. We will get through this together because we are a strong Puma family.”