Nebraska Christian College, which was located in Norfolk for 62 years, will close for good at the end of the spring semester because of low enrollment numbers and financial struggles.
The college, which opened in Norfolk in 1944 and moved to Papillion in 2006, intended to celebrate its 75th anniversary this year but instead will close next month.
Struggling financially before a merger with Hope International University (HIU) in 2016, Nebraska Christian added intercollegiate athletics and increased online academic options in an effort to attract more students. After the merger with Hope, enrollment jumped to 140 students (a 27% increase), but spring enrollment this year dropped to a 30-year low of 85. The enrollment decrease has caused unsustainable operating losses for the small campus, said Paul Alexander, president of Hope International.