Sylvania is officially on the clock to say goodbye to Lourdes University. The small Franciscan college will close at the end of the 2025-2026 academic year, ending nearly seven decades on its northwest Ohio campus and pulling a long-time anchor out of the local community.
New state filings and a recently finalized teach-out plan now spell out the timetable for layoffs and student transfers, turning a painful board vote into a concrete countdown. The decision leaves roughly 1,200 students looking at transfer plans and triggered a WARN filing that signals hundreds of job losses.
In a Feb. 11 message to students and families, the university's board and the Sisters of St. Francis said they had concluded that continuing operations was "financially unsustainable." The board tapped Sister Dr. Nancy Linenkugel as the 13th and final president, tasking her with steering the school through its last chapter, according to Lourdes University.
Teach-out deals and transfer options
The University of Toledo has agreed to serve as the primary teach-out partner and will become the long-term custodian of Lourdes students' academic records. That role is designed to let enrolled students move through a streamlined transfer process, rather than start from scratch with transcripts and credit reviews.
The agreement, announced March 9, sits alongside other transfer arrangements that are meant to keep Lourdes credits intact as students land at new campuses, according to WTVG/13abc.
Who will be affected and timeline
The closure will hit staff especially hard. A state WARN filing lists 387 employees who will lose their jobs, with the first departures scheduled to begin May 15 and the last positions ending Sept. 30, 2026.
Lourdes enrolls roughly 1,200 students, including 1,221 students in fall 2022, according to Wikipedia. University leaders say all classes and campus services will continue through commencement, according to reporting by Cleveland.com.
The WARN filing and internal notices break out the positions that will disappear: 26 assistant professors, 106 adjuncts, 14 head coaches, about 31 federal work-study student workers, and roughly 49 student employees, according to Cleveland.com.
Local impact and the wider trend
For Sylvania, the loss is more than academic. Lourdes has been woven into the city's civic life for generations, and its shutdown is expected to land as an economic hit for nearby businesses that depend on student and staff traffic. Fewer dorms and classrooms usually mean fewer coffee orders, fewer part-time jobs, and fewer people on the sidewalks.
Lourdes' fate is part of a broader wave hitting small, faith-based colleges in the Midwest and across the country, as shrinking enrollments and tightening budgets squeeze institutions that once felt untouchable. That trend of closures and consolidations has been documented by The Statehouse News Bureau.
Legal and job protections
University officials have filed a state WARN notice that lays out staggered departure dates for staff. Under the federal WARN Act, most employers planning mass layoffs or plant closings must give 60 days' notice, a requirement that can also trigger state rapid-response services for affected workers, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Lourdes' closure site and internal letters say the university is arranging transfer meetings, counseling, and other supports for students and employees as the campus winds down operations, according to Lourdes University.
For now, administrators say classes will continue, and leaders will keep updating students and families through the university's closure page as new details are finalized. Nearby colleges and community organizations are beginning to absorb displaced students and staff. Residents and alumni say the loss will linger in Sylvania, where the Franciscan campus has been a fixture since 1958 and, for many locals, feels like part of the town's identity.
