The University of Saint Katherine announces sudden closure, filing for bankruptcy

The University of Saint Katherine, a private Orthodox Christian school in San Marcos, is shutting down indefinitely and filing for bankruptcy, President and founder Frank Papatheofanis announced Thursday.

In an email to students, faculty and staff members that circulated on social media, he said the institution could no longer meet its financial obligations due to “a steep shortfall in operating cash.”

“Multiple reasons for this shortfall include extraordinary inflation, higher-than-anticipated salary increases, and high institutional student financial aid,” he said. “The same factors have resulted in the closure of many small colleges and universities across the county.”

The university’s closing date is May 18, Papatheofanis said in an email Friday. He declined an interview but shared the following statement:

“The University of Saint Katherine is a non-profit Hispanic- and minority-serving institution that will close at the end of this semester. As a WASC-accredited institution, we offered many undergraduate and graduate degree programs at one of the lowest tuition rates in California. Financial pressure due to unprecedented inflation and rising state-mandated labor costs prevent us from continuing this valuable work while remaining affordable.”

In the Thursday memo, Papatheofanis said that he and the school’s Board of Trustees had “vigorously explored multiple options that might allow us to continue. Unfortunately, none of these has proven viable.”

He added that the institution is filing for bankruptcy and would “continue to pursue and consider any opportunity we can identify.”

Thursday’s announcement, issued just days before final exams, was sudden and took many by surprise. The school’s Athletics Department and others took to social media to express their thoughts.

“Our hearts break for our student-athletes at the conclusion of their Firebird careers, and we pray for their continued success as they move forward,” read a statement from the Athletics Department. “Our beach volleyball team is currently competing in the NAIA National Invitational and will continue to do so. They are excited about the opportunity to play for a national championship this Friday and Saturday.”

On Friday, students and faculty were seen packing up and questioning what comes next. Among them was senior student Chloe Thompson.

“I’m so hurt by this,” she said. “I’m supposed to graduate on May 18. Now, I don’t even know if they’ll have graduation. My parents bought airline tickets and were going to fly here from Alabama. This is shocking.”

Evan Getz, chair of the university’s Arts and Humanities department, said he was “deeply grateful” that he was able to teach at the USK.

“The faculty and students are marvelous,” he said. “It is the most collegiate atmosphere I have ever known. I am sad, but grateful. I need to find a new job. I have four children.”

Several years ago, the school envisioned becoming a nationally and internationally recognized residential institution of 5,000 undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate studies. It planned to do so by relocating from San Marcos to Chula Vista.

The USK was one of several schools Chula Vista had talked with in hopes of finally bringing a four-year institution to its University and Innovation District.

In November 2018, that dream seemed closer to reality. The university began negotiating an option to lease 10 acres of the South County city’s 383-acre, undeveloped university and technology park in Otay Ranch.

Plans included the development of “a multi-institutional university campus, including the development and construction of facilities for approximately 1,000 full-time students, student housing for approximately 400 students, and other infrastructure,” according to the agreement.

Lease negotiations were unsuccessful, however, and the agreement expired last year, Michele Clock, the city’s spokesperson, said Friday.

There were no specific factors that led to the negotiations being unsuccessful, she added.

The university, which operated from a large office building on Rancheros Drive near Ronald Packard Parkway, was founded in 2010 and offered more than two dozen undergraduate and three graduate programs of study. It enrolled about 300 students, mostly from California.